Jobs signing off from Apple for 5 months

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New York: Admitting to having serious health problems, Steve Jobs, the iconic chief of IT major Apple will be on "medical leave" for five months.

Rumours have been rife in recent months that bad health might even force the retirement of 53-year-old Jobs.

"In order to take myself out of limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June," Jobs wrote in a letter to Apple's employees on Wednesday.

Further, the chief noted that his "health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought".

In Jobs absence, the company's Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook would be taking care of the day to day operations.

The latest letter from Jobs might come as a surprise for investors as the Apple chief earlier this month said that he would continue to work despite suffering from hormonal imbalance.

"As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to my doctors and me. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my first (number one) priority," the Apple chief had revealed in an open letter on January 5.

Meanwhile, in Wednesday's communication, Jobs noted that as chief executive he would remain involved in major strategic decisions.