The health of the Apple boss, Steve Jobs, is again in the spotlight after a report that he was taken to the emergency room after suffering from “a massive heart attack”

The report, which was published on the citizen journalism section of Time Warner’s CNN, was quickly removed from the site, but not before the company’s shares fell by more than 10%.

Apple officials repeatedly denied the report. “It’s not true. There is no truth to the rumor,”company spokeswoman Katie Cotton said.

However, it was the first time since May 2008 that Apple’s share felt under $100 mark. Later in the day, the company’s shares rebounded.

The SEC said it was investigating whether there was a financial motive in posting the report, which would have allowed an investor to make millions of dollars by shorting or short selling the stock - selling borrowed shares and betting on repurchasing them later at a lower price. CNN said it would cooperate with the investigation.

This was the second recent case in which a false internet report was responsible for a deep decline in the stock price of a major company.

Shares in United Airlines briefly dropped more than 92 per cent in early September after Google's automatic news page picked up a five- year-old story on the company.

This is the second time in the past two months when Steve Jobs’ health is making headlines. In August, Bloomberg newswire accidentally published Steve Jobs obituary.

The 17-page obituary of Jobs was immediately pulled from the news wire, but not before Gawker.com was able to save it and publish it. The obituary was replaced by statement saying: "An incomplete story referencing Apple Inc. was inadvertently published by Bloomberg News at 4:27 p.m. New York time today. The item was never meant for publication and has been retracted".

In fact, the health status of Apple iconic CEO was the subject of speculations and rumors since his apparition at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this year. However, Apple repeatedly said that his health is good and dismissed any rumors.

Last month, during the highly anticipated release of Apple’s new iPod nano music player Steve Jobs addressed the widely debated health issue.

A quotation borrowed from Mark Twain saying "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" was shown on a screen near the stage, proving that Steve Jobs can also be funny when the situation calls for it. However, today’s incident is a new proof of how much means Steve Jobs for Apple.