BusinessWeek reports that Apple has cleared both Apple management and CEO Steve Jobs himself of any wrongdoing after concluding its internal probe about backdated stock options.
"The special committee, its independent counsel and forensic accountants have performed an exhaustive investigation of Apple's stock option granting practices," said Al Gore, former VP of the United States and chair of the special committee, and Jerome York, chair of Apple's Audit and Finance Committee. "The board of directors is confident that the Company has corrected the problems that led to the restatement, and it has complete confidence in Steve Jobs and the senior management team."
As Scott posted earlier today, Apple has finally filed its SEC forms 10-Q and 10-K for the 2006 fiscal year.
So what does this mean to the Apple user community at large? Probably nothing much. Jobs' hiring of personal counsel looks like simple business-as-usual.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-29-2006 @ 10:57AM
DJ Corey Craig said...
WHERE DID THE HAIR COME FROM???
Is that a new apple product?
iWig?
Is it bluetooth, WiFi and blu ray compatible
Reply
12-29-2006 @ 11:33AM
John B said...
@1.
The biggest question is: Does It Blend?
(Ok, I admit. It's getting old)
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12-29-2006 @ 12:07PM
Dave Barnes said...
Good news in the Annual Report at http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000110465906084288/a06-25759_210k.htm
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12-29-2006 @ 1:33PM
Barry Brown said...
I don't get it. Does the report essentially say "yes, something went wrong, but no one did it"? If the executives weren't responsible, who did it?
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12-29-2006 @ 2:06PM
David said...
@3: Al Gore joined Apple's Board of Directors back in 2003
Reply
12-29-2006 @ 2:41PM
xVariable said...
Yeah, I think everyone except the fanboys have gotta profess a big "Duh!" on this one. I mean, did anyone *really* think an *internal* investigation would find evidence of impropriety? It's all politics.
I'll say this much: this outcome compels me to question Gore's integrity, that's for damn sure...
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12-29-2006 @ 2:52PM
xVariable said...
What I'd like to know is, can those people that hold the internal investigation be held accountable/charged/punished if their findings are refuted by an independent entity (i.e.: the government)?
There should be strict accountability on their part.
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12-29-2006 @ 3:09PM
Julian Bennett Holmes said...
Barry, they say no one in the CURRENT management did it.
Two former managers have resigned, including Apple's former CFO, Fred Anderson.
This report essentially places the blame on them.
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12-29-2006 @ 5:48PM
Reg said...
> WHERE DID THE HAIR COME FROM??? Is that a new apple product?
The picture is of Jobs in his 40s. I guess they ramped up Leopard's Time Machine, traveled back and took it.
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12-29-2006 @ 9:28PM
CRH said...
If you are looking for "no controlling legal authority", then Al Gore is your man.
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12-30-2006 @ 3:31AM
Matthew Graybeal said...
Today's market close for AAPL after all the stock options investigations shot up to 84.84 today (12.29.2006). Is it just me or is this a sign that Apple is ready to kick some serious 1984 as* rolling into the New Year? Pretty crazy if you ask me! 84.84! Seriously! :-)
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1-01-2007 @ 2:41PM
Sherman Homan said...
Getting into legal trouble with the SEC for fraud, theft, misleading, whatever, is courting disaster. I don't think that any listed, publicly held company like Apple and Jobs can take that risk.
There are obvious exceptions like Enron, but they were headed over the cliff anyway. They got into legal trouble for their stealing ways as the roof was coming down. Apple is on a market run and I can't believe that those stock options would be worth the damage. Look at what happened to AAPL stock in the days that their legal trouble was announced: from 92 to 82 with 900 million shares outstanding of means a change in market value of 9 billion dollars.
That is a lot of money, even to me...!
Reply
1-02-2007 @ 4:41PM
Guy said...
Well that says it all, the inventor of the internet says that Apple Mgmt and Steve Jobs are cleared, so it must be true. What is Al Gore even doing in this? When did he become such an expert on so many different matters, like I said, he claimed to have initiated the internet, he is an expert on gobal warming and now he is a fiscal analsyst. I don't think upper management and/or Steve Jobs did anything wrong, but I won't be entirely conviced until an external investigation shows that same thing as the internal one. You always have to take internal investigations, whether from Apple, or any other company, with a grain of salt, companies as much as they admit that want to get to the truth also don't want to hurt their stock prices.
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