apple news/media reports

02/09/2007, 11:55am, EST

Friday, February 9th

'Well-timed' Pixar options signed by Jobs

Apple CEO Steve Jobs helped negotiate an employment contract with film director John Lasseter and Pixar via a large stock-options grant carrying a 'well-timed' date, according to MarketWatch and the Wall Street Journal. The options grant held the lowest share price of the previoius year on a date more than three months prior to the signing of Lasseter's employment contract, and Jobs signed the agreement on behalf of Pixar acting as chairman and CEO. The report notes, however, that it is unclear whether Jobs played a role in selecting the date. Pixar's current owner is examining the acquired company's option-grant practices.

Apple in late June announced that an internal investigation had turned up 'irregularities' related to the issuance of certain stock option grants made between 1997 and 2001, with one of the grants in question issued to Jobs. The investigation has thus far resulted in several shareholder lawsuits against the Cupertino-based company, the launch of an official SEC investigation that is still ongoing, and a restatement of Apple's earnings resulting in an $84 million charge to rectify thousands of improperly backdated stock options grants to employees and executives.

Federal officials recently questioned Jobs in San Francisco as part of their ongoing investigation, following news that Apple's chief was given 7.5 million stock options in 2001 without the required authorization from the company's board of directors.


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That;s edivence enough
0
02/09, 1:03pm, EST
Jobs did knowingly act in backdating options and it was common practice. This makes me sick, jobs should be charged and convicted and sent to jail!
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wait for more details
0
02/09, 1:05pm, EST
The only problem would be if this was reported inaccurately. There is nothing illegal about giving someone stock options using an already-past date (in the same way you can give someone options based on a fixed price rather than a date, e.g., a million shares for $10/share). The only wrong-doing would be if Pixar falsified how this was reported. So this isn't interesting, yet.
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sixcolors..
0
02/09, 1:49pm, EST
What exactly makes you sick, sixcolors, about a common practice that is also perfectly legal. It is not the backdating that's a problem, but rather a failure in reporting it properly, which is what happened here, and which Jobs was not involved in.

What's your problem?
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And. . .
0
02/09, 3:32pm, EST
Moreover, whether Jobs played a role in selecting the date is also largely irrelevant. First, it is not illegal to backdate options. It is only illegal if they are not reported properly. Second, Jobs is not an accountant or attorney. He goes to those folks for advice. Accordingly, if Jobs relied on expert advice that said the grant dates were legal, he should be in the clear.
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Reporting not done
0
02/09, 3:36pm, EST
That's it, he backdated options then did not report it properly. As the signatory he should have known better.
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Do you know for sure?
0
02/09, 3:49pm, EST
sixcolors,

do you know for sure that Pixar didn't report it properly? None of the articles say that it was reported incorrectly.

All the article says is that the options were backdated (nothing wrong with that) and Jobs signed off on it (nothing wrong with that).

The article doesn't say if Pixar then didn't report the options properly.

I'm glad you're not in charge of the backdating investigations. You jump WAY before having ALL the facts.
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Jobs is an accountant?
0
02/09, 4:42pm, EST
He should have known? Really? Is the guy a certified accountant? Were all the other guys asleep at the wheel?

Backdating is no illegal. Failing to report properly is but it is not the responsibility of the CEO to do that. That is why they hire supposedly competent CFO's to handle all that Financial stuff.
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Bad
0
02/09, 5:17pm, EST
Bad bad bad CFO's
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Re: jobs is an accountant
0
02/09, 7:25pm, EST
He should have known? Really? Is the guy a certified accountant? Were all the other guys asleep at the wheel?

It doesn't matter if he should have known. He's in charge and, as such, is responsible. At least that what leaders do. Take the bullet for failing their people.

He may have more sway at Pixar, where he seems to keep a hands off approach. At Apple, being the hands on guy in charge, it really does lay in his lap.
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"failing their people"
0
02/09, 8:08pm, EST
Testudo, you obviously don't work in a large corporation if you are naive enough to actually believe that it's the norm for senior leaders to "take the bullet for failing their people."
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