Ingot Tree

Just when my Apple shares were back in the black, Apple decides to get caught up in an options backdating scandal. The Financial Times:

"Shareholders in Apple Computer on Thursday took a wait-and-see approach in the first day of trading after the company said an internal investigation had cleared Steve Jobs, co-founder and chief executive, of any wrongdoing in options backdating at the computer maker.

Shares in the company fell 0.7 per cent on Thursday to $74.83, a day after Apple said a group of independent directors found Mr Jobs was aware of "a few instances" of improper options backdating between 1997 and 2002. The company's investigation had concluded that Mr Jobs was unaware of the accounting implications of backdating and had not benefited personally from it.

The independent directors behind the investigation are understood to include Al Gore, the former US vice-president, and Jerry York, former chief financial officer of IBM and Chrysler. Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, joined the probe after he became a member of the Apple board in August, according to a person familiar with the matter. Apple declined to comment.

Analysts on Thursday expressed cautious optimism that Mr Jobs might emerge unscathed by backdating, a practice in which the grant dates of stock options are manipulated to coincide with low points in the value of a company's shares."

Steve Jobs nicely acknowledges that he was aware of these naughty deeds but claims to be unware of the "accounting implications". Sounds like a set up for the defence of bona fides which is rather lame if you ask me... or anybody else. See Can Ignorance Put Apple's Jobs in Clear? By MAY WONG and Apple: Rotten at the Core by the Motley Fool.

Think I shall dump my shares. Fast.


Categories: apple, shares, options, backdating, scandal, steve, jobs, accounting, implications, legal, defence