The Associated Press' Jessica Mintz notes that Apple increased its payroll by 48 percent this fiscal year, with most of the new employees starting at Apple retail stores.

The data came from Apple's 10-K filing, an annual financial document required by law for public companies (Apple has not produced a 'glossy' annual report in several years). A direct link to the PDF is available here. Steve noted yesterday morning that Apple reported sales of $3.3 billion via the iTunes store in the filing.

Apple employed 32,000 full-time employees, and 3,100 temps and contractors as of September 27, up from 21,600 and 2,100 (respectively) a year ago. Of the 11,400 new additions, 8,000 went to Apple's retail segment, while the others started elsewhere in the organization.

The filing also said that Apple spent 40 percent more on research and development this year, compared to 2007: $1.1 billion. Electronista also notes that Steve Jobs was paid $189,000 for the use of his personal jet, a gift from Apple several years ago.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, no evidence has been found to support the claim that a teenager who posted a rumor online saying Steve Jobs has suffered a heart attack tried to profit from the lower stock price.

One person involved in the investigation (who declined to be identified because it's still ongoing) said the agency hasn't unearthed any trading records that show the teen benefited from the drop.

The SEC and Apple officially declined to comment. An SEC manipulation case would depend on the teenager's intentions, according to the Merc.

The initial report, posted to CNN's iReport website on October 3, was publicized Silicon Alley Insider, prompting nervous investors to sell their AAPL shares. That day, the stock fell by 5.4 percent, but recovered to close down by three percent.

Update: My apologies: I misread the lead. Entirely my fault.

Remember that whole stock backdating scandal that was threatening to throw a wrench into the unstoppable train that is Apple? Yeah, Apple would prefer you forget about it too, but the SEC (that's the Securities and Exchange Commission) hasn't. They have subpoenaed Steve Jobs to testify in relation to a trail involving Nancy Heinan, Apple's former General Counsel (we covered her involvement here).

Keep in mind that no charges are being brought up against Steve, but whenever the CEO of a publicly traded company is brought in front of the SEC it is big news.

[via Macuser]

Sources have informed The Financial Times of London that the forged documents at the center of the ongoing SEC investigation relate to illegal activities surrounding options given to Steven Jobs. According to the FT story, Jobs "was handed 7.5m stock options in 2001 without the required authorization from the company's board of directors." and that "Records that purported to show a full board meeting had taken place to approve Mr Jobs' remuneration, as required by Apple's procedures, were later falsified."

If this is in fact the case, it certainly makes sense that Jobs would seek his own external legal counsel both to more closely protect his personal interests as well as put some distance between himself and the company as a whole.

Update: The FT article makes no mention of wrong doing by Jobs himself, and as such this post has been updated.

[via Cult of Mac]

Apple's ongoing investigation into its stock option grants has delayed its SEC 10-K filing. The filing, which was due yesterday, may be delayed for as much as a month.

If you recall, Apple admitted that employee stock options may have been been backdated. Companies use backdating in order to lower the apparent value of the issued stocks. Although news reports suggest this isn't illegal, the backdating has to be accounted for and disclosed to investors and so forth. CEO Steve Jobs was reportedly aware of the backdating and Apple's investigation is ongoing.

Back in August, Apple announced they had found some stock option irregularities and launched an internal investigation to get to the bottom of things. This voluntary audit netted a warning of de-listing from NASDAQ because they had to delay filing their Q3 earnings results (fortuately, NASDAQ cut Apple a break). Today, the big fruit has issued a press release with the findings of this audit, which was performed by a special committee of outside directors, independent counsel and accountants. This crack team had to shuffle through over 650,000 emails and documents (Spotlight to the rescue!), as well as conduct over 40 interviews of current and past employees.

In summary, the investigation's results go a little something like this:

• No misconduct by current members of Apple management was found
• The most recent evidence of 'irregularities' points to 15 stock option grants made between 1997 and 2002. Said grants were apparently issued before their approval dates
• Steve Jobs knew about the grant dates, but he apparently didn't know about the slight-of-hand accounting implications, nor did he benefit from any of them
• The data found 'raises serious concerns' of two former officers related to the accounting, recording and reporting of these grants. Apple will provide details to the SEC

Mr J is quoted apologizing to Apple's shareholders and employees for these problems, especially since they happened under his watch, saying "They are completely out of character for Apple." He continues saying "We will now work to resolve the remaining issues as quickly as possible and to put the proper remedial measures in place to ensure that this never happens again," i.e. - somebody's in for a whole lotta iButt woopin'.

In the collateral damage department, Fred Anderson, Apple's former CFO from 1996 to 2004 who now serves on the company's board of directors, has decided now might be a good time to resign from said board.

Finally, Apple and the audit committee agree that the company will ultimately have to restate their historical financial statements to "record non-cash charges for compensation expense relating to past stock option grants." At this time however, the company is still working to analyze their findings and determine which periods will need restating, as well as the differential amounts.

Following reports of possible stock option improprieties by Apple executives and continuing internal and external investigations of these concerns, Apple has announced that it will delay the filing of its Q3 quarterly earnings reports until it is satisfied that the issues have been properly accounted for and addressed.

Delay of the filing puts Apple out of compliance with Nasdaq regulations, and continued non-compliance without taking proper measures are grounds for Nasdaq to cease listing of Apple shares.

Apple has said it's stock will remain listed pending a hearing and decision by the Nasdaq listing qualifications board.

Despite these issues, perhaps because Apple itself–and not a third party, uncovered the irregularities, Apple stock has remained fairly stable.