Apple re-elects Board, wrestles with options

Apple today re-elected all of its board members at its annual shareholder meeting in Cupertino and also voted down a proposal to change Apple's policy on pricing option grants for senior executives. Apple CEO Jobs also defended his company, his knowlegde, and other execs in Apple's options scandal as well as his compensation. "I get 50 cents just for showing up. The other 50 cents in for my performance," Jobs said. Apple's chief also call the upcoming iPhone "a remarkable device," confirming it will be released in June and also confirming that the company would show its new operating system, Leopard, to developers at Apple's annual developers conference next month.

Apple shareholders reelected all current company directors, including Jobs, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt and former vice president Al Gore.

According to Marketwatch, the options pricing proposal demanded the company set grant dates for future options awards at the beginning of the fiscal year to avoid the issue of backdating options which led to the options scandal at Apple and many other companies. The measure was sponsored by the New York-based Amalgamated Bank LongView Collective Investment Fund and the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, of Hartford, Connecticut. It sought to give any future stock options a price that equaled the average opening and closing prices of Apple's stock on the day the options were given.

The report said that the preliminary results of the shareholder vote showed the stock-option pricing proposals, and other shareholder-sponsored measures, were not passed.

In answering a question related to how Apple's executive compensation is determined, Jobs quipped about his long-time annual salary of $1, although recent report that a growing number of execs are taking the $1 salary approach, including Google's Eric Schmidt. Jobs earned more than $647 million last year based on an stock options grant, according to Forbes -- making him the highest paid CEO In 2006.

Apple also hinted at iTunes video rentals at an unknown future date, which one firm expects to see next year. The company also indicated that there would not be a stock split in the near term, according to the same report.

Filed under: Apple