Apple posts fantastic quarterly sales figures in all areas and sees overall profits soar 31 percent to $1.07 billion as customers around the world snapped up the iPhone 3G, iPods and iMacs and what happens? The stock is dumped.

Nervous invsetors off-loaded shares of Apple on concerns over weakening profit margins and rumors regarding the health of it's co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs. In after hours trading Apple's stock slumped 11 percent to $148.

Steve Jobs is widely lauded as the main reason for the company's global renassisance and he is certainly the main driving force behind the innovative and slickly designed products. Jobs, now 53, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, but has since recovered.

When Jobs' apparent weight loss was noted last month, Apple said he was taking antibiotics for a minor "bug". The New York Post revisited the issue yesterday by quoting unnamed industry and financial sources expressing concern.

When asked about the CEO's health during a call with analysts last night, Apple's chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said: "Steve loves Apple. He serves as CEO at the pleasure of Apple's board and has no plans to leave Apple. Steve's health is a private matter."

Questions about the company co-founder and entrepreneur proved a bit of a distraction from second-quarter figures which revealed Mac sales had sky-rocketed 41percent year on year to 2.5 million computers, and iPod sales were 12% higher to 11 million globally.