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Steve Jobs probably off the hook over options backdating E-mail
by Stan Beer   
Monday, 23 April 2007
The backdating of options isn't illegal but not disclosing and accounting for them properly to shareholders and regulators certainly is. In the case of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, 7.5 million backdated options he received in 2001 have threatened to bring him down but an examination of the matter by the San Jose Mercury News predicts that he will probably be exonerated of blame.

At the heart of the matter is the issue of falsified minutes of a board meeting that never took place. However, apparently there is no evidence to suggest that either Jobs or the Apple Board, which included some of the biggest names in IT, including Larry Ellison CEO of Oracle, knew of the falsified minutes or accounting improprieties.

There is also, as the Mercury News points out, the fact that the granting of Job's backdated options was openly approved by the Apple Board and there is no evidence to suggest that either Jobs or the Board tried to hide anything.

The fact is, however, falsified minutes of a Board meeting were drawn up and signed by Apple's general counsel and that there was some wrong doing.

It would seem that the main issue then is who to blame for the falsified minutes of a meeting that never took place. According to the Mercury News Apple is pointing the finger at former General Counsel Nancy Heinen and former CFO Fred Anderson.

However, the real issue is the importance of Steve Jobs to Apple. Regulators usually go after corporate bosses because they illegally try to line their pockets to the detriment of shareholders. To suggest that Jobs has done anything to the detriment of shareholders at Apple would be laughable.

To bring a criminal prosecution against Jobs, on the other hand, would have widespread repercussions for the well-being of the company that largely owes its success to his vision. That would be appear to be contrary to the mandate of regulators which is to protect the interests of shareholders.{moscomment}

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The Beerfiles IT BLOG BeerFiles is an in-your-face and sometimes irreverent blog concerning all things to do with IT, technology, people and the media from the point of view of a hard boiled technology journalist and commentator.