12/28/2006, 9:05am, EST
Thursday, December 28th
Apple falsifies Jobs' options docs
In October, the company largely exonerated Jobs over the matter, saying that while he had been “aware” of the backdating “in a few instances”, he “did not receive or otherwise benefit from these grants and was unaware of the accounting implications”.
Analysts believe that Apple's CEO Steve Jobs will not be implicated and that the move was a normal course of action for the executive, given his immense personal fortune and influence in the industry.
Jobs' stock options under review were handed were given in October 2001 at an exercise price of $18.30 a share, but the alleged board authorization was dated near the end of the year, indicating that the benefits were both not properly authorized and that the options were backdated to maximize the value of the options.
Jobs, however, later surrendered his options before they were exercised, thus he did not "gain any direct. The Apple CEO was later given a grant of restricted stock by the company instead. The value of the stock grant, however, may have been calculated on the backdated options.
The report says that Apple’s lawyers have briefed people involved in the case on the findings of the company’s internal review of the matter, though it remains unclear how much detail will be included in the filing. Under Apple’s rules, the chief executive’s remuneration must be set by a compensation committee of independent directors and later authorized by the full board.
An Apple spokesman reportedly refused to comment on the matter, but said the company had handed the findings of its internal enquiry to the SEC. In October, Apple said that it had found “no misconduct by any member of Apple’s current management team” but that its investigation “raised serious concerns regarding the actions of two former officers”. At the same time, it also announced the resignation from its board of former CFO Fred Andersen--although he had not been a director at the time of the 2001 options grant.
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At the time I read that the market was still 5 minutes from even opening...how do you know they fell Thursday? Attempting a little manipulation of your own?
Why do so many people leap on everything that MacNN says and claim that they are terrible? There is nothing wrong with this story.
The complainers should check their own facts and read the story before jumping the gun and launching into their complaints. Their own failure to do so is ironic considering they constantly complain about MacNN doing the same thing. . . .
This story is disingenuous because who knows why investors do what they do? Apple's stock has been trading down for about two weeks now. During the holidays, the stock market always acts stranger then normal because less people are trading.
Finally, the Tuesday rumors, if true, do not contradict anything Apple has already said. First, Apple already said 1) Jobs did nothing wrong, and 2) other executives did. The documents the SEC has, most likely voluntarily came from Apple. Jobs long ago publicly stated he does not participate in deciding salary. Jobs is 1) uneducated, and 2) not an accountant. So if Apple's highly paid accountant came up to him and said here is a gazillion stock options for you, Jobs would rightfully (and lawfully) assume they were legit.
Some other points, Al Gore is not going to hang around Apple if it is a sinking ship. The guy is to smart, and has a very clean reputation. Al is friends with Jobs. Finally, Jobs is being sued by investors, and the government will b asking him personally questions. It is not uncommon for him to have a private lawyer in either situation. Smart people have private lawyers when they are being sued. You see the company lawyer's duty is to protect the company, not Jobs.
It is also worth noting, the company will be paying Jobs legal fees.
The only thing Apple fans should worry about is if all this pisses Steve off, and he quits.
Look at Macsurfer, and you will see all this information came out Tuesday night. As usually, it came from one publication, and a million other publications copied the story with no original research. No where does anybody ask Apple for a comment, Jobs for comment, or the government for comment.
Also, after the news came out Tuesday night, Apple's stock took a five point hit in the early part of the day. It, however, closed up, and went up even further in After market trading.
Brokers love news like this, idiots sell and they make their commission. These people are not investors, but gamblers.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/801e1b82-9605-11db-9976-0000779e2340.html
Published December 28 at 00:21, updated later.
Incidentally, I found the link on Macsurfer. It was the first one.
Also, I heard about this article while driving to work listening to NPR's business news.
No, this is not an old story. This is new details about an old story. Perfectly logical to post it, and in early trading and after hours trading the markets have reacted to this.
Admit it, MacNN was perfectly justified in printing it.
As to whether it means anything in the long run, who knows. I doubt it will have much long term effect, but it is an interesting twist nonetheless.