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Apple CEO questioned in stock option probe: reports
2007-01-23
Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs has been questioned by US federal investigators as part of a probe into the company's granting of stock option awards, media reports said. The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper and The Recorder, a legal publication, said Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission investigators had interviewed Jobs in San Francisco in the past week. Apple, which makes computers and the best-selling iPod digital music players, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. An SEC spokesman also could not be reached for comment. Apple has previously said that Jobs was aware of irregular backdating of stock options for some executives, but that he did not personally benefit from the awards. But the company said in late December that one of two stock option grants made to Jobs was "improperly recorded as occurring at a special board meeting on October 19, 2001" when in fact, no board meeting had occurred on that day. Apple has said that Jobs did not cash in the awards. Other technology firms, including McAfee and CNET, have also been roiled by the wide-ranging federal probe into the granting of stock options at over 100 companies. The backdating of stock options is not illegal itself. But it is improper to manipulate the date on which stock options are awarded, or to grant such rewards without disclosing them to shareholders in security filings. Executives could reap bigger rewards cashing in stock options if the date on which they were granted is manipulated to when a company's share price was at its lowest. Following an internal review overseen by former US vice president Al Gore, Apple said last month that it would account for extra non-cash stock-based compensation expenses of 84 million dollars, dating to 2004.
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