“Shares of Apple Computer gained ahead of Friday’s opening bell after the maker of iconic iPod digital music player provided some answers to lingering questions about the nature and extent of improprieties with its stock option granting practices, saying a probe has concluded CEO Steve Jobs was ‘aware or recommended’ some favorable grant dates but didn’t personally benefit from it,” Steve Goldstein reports for MarketWatch.

MacDailyNews Note: AAPL is currently up roughly 4% to $84.02 in recent pre-market action.

Goldstein reports, “The company also outlined the financial impact of the options probe, saying certain results would be restated to record an after-tax charge of $84 million for additional non-cash compensation expense. It quantified the impact of the charge on its bottom line, saying after-tax profits would be lowered by $10 million for fiscal 2004, $7 million for fiscal 2005 and $4 million for fiscal 2006.”

Goldstein reports, “In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple said a special committee of its board found that while Jobs was ‘aware or recommended the selection of some favorable grant dates, he did not receive or financially benefit from these grants or appreciate the accounting implications.’”

“There was no evidence of misconduct by current management, the committee said, but it again noted, as it did in October, that the probe raised serious concerns about the actions of two former officers in connection with the accounting, recording and reporting of stock-option grants,” Goldstein reports. “The committee said the board has ‘complete confidence’ in Jobs and the rest of Apple’s senior management team. Of 42,077 stock-option grants made on 259 dates between October 1996 and January 2003, 6,428 grants on 42 dates have been deemed as not the proper measurement dates, Apple said.”

“Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak, developing early personal computers including the Macintosh. In 1985, Jobs left the company, going on to lead computer animation pioneer Pixar and NeXT Computer, whose purchase by Apple in 1996 brought him back into the company’s fold. He has held the CEO post since Gil Amelio’s departure in 1997, and is largely credited with bringing the company and its stock back to prominence,” Goldstein reports. “Jobs collects a nominal salary of $1 per year, going back to at least 2000. That year, in January, the company announced it had given him a Gulfstream V airplane in recognition of his service to the company, as well as options to buy 10 million common shares at the ‘then-market price,’ Apple said in a press release at the time.”

Full article here.

Related articles:
Apple files 10-Q and 10-K, company to record non-cash charge of $84 million – December 29, 2006
Enderle on Steve Jobs’ honesty, possible criminal charges, and whether Jobs can attend Macworld Expo – December 29, 2006
ThinkEquity analyst: Apple sell-off due to ‘inexperienced traders,’ nothing new in options story – December 28, 2006
Analyst: U.S. Gov’t unlikely to ‘nail Apple and Steve Jobs’ – December 28, 2006
Report: Apple ‘falsified’ records on 7.5m stock options granted to CEO Steve Jobs in 2001 – December 28, 2006
What would Apple be worth without Steve Jobs? – December 27, 2006
Piper Jaffray: Steve Jobs not at risk in stock options case – December 27, 2006
Apple shares push into positive territory, top NASDAQ most-active list – December 27, 2006
Shares of Apple Computer fall 5% in pre-market trading – December 27, 2006
Faked documents may be at core of Apple options probe; Jobs seeks outside legal representation – December 26, 2006
Apple delays filing annual report due to ongoing stock options investigation – December 15, 2006
Options scandal: is Apple’s Steve Jobs truly safe? – October 18, 2006
Apple Computer Directors may have had conflicts of interest in options investigation – October 11, 2006
Apple’s options disclosures leave plenty of unanswered questions – October 09, 2006
Apple shareholders await earnings restatements; Steve Jobs still not in the clear – October 06, 2006
Former CFO Anderson helped turn Apple Computer around – October 05, 2006
Wall Street unshaken by results of Apple stock options investigation – October 05, 2006
Is Apple rotten at the core? – October 05, 2006
Analyst: Anderson, Heinen may be former Apple executives responsible for irregular options grants – October 05, 2006
Analyst: Apple restatement due to options irregularities not expected to be significant – October 04, 2006
Apple’s special committee reports findings of stock option investigation – October 04, 2006
Google CEO declines Apple automatic stock option grant; plans to buy 10,000 AAPL shares instead – September 01, 2006
Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt joins Apple’s Board of Directors – August 29, 2006
Shareholders allege Apple execs reaped ‘millions’ in unlawful profits – August 23, 2006
How options-backdating irregularities can affect your Apple Computer stock – August 23, 2006
Apple’s options imbroglio: Mac-maker granted options at or near key events in company’s history – August 18, 2006
Apple added to Nasdaq’s list of ‘delinquent companies’ – August 18, 2006
Apple unlikely to be delisted by NASDAQ – August 16, 2006
Apple CEO Steve Jobs drawn into stock options scandal – August 15, 2006
Apple announces update regarding stock option grants – August 11, 2006
As expected, Apple delays quarterly results due to stock-options grants review – August 11, 2006
Some stock options grant decisions were made by Apple board, and potentially, CEO Steve Jobs – August 10, 2006
Disney: no material impact from Pixar options – August 09, 2006
Pixar options draw scrutiny – August 08, 2006
Apple stock options scandal? What scandal? – August 07, 2006
Class action lawsuit over stock options filed against Apple Computer, Inc. – August 04, 2006
Wall Street forgiving of Apple’s stock option irregularities; CEO Jobs unlikely to be terminated – August 04, 2006
Apple’s stock option irregularities escalate into a scandal as world awaits Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote – August 04, 2006
Apple warns of profit restatement dating back to 2002 – August 04, 2006
Apple loses 3.5% to $67.15 in premarket trading – August 04, 2006
Apple announces update regarding stock option grants – August 03, 2006
Shareholder’s options suit against Apple alleges ‘striking pattern that could not have been chance’ – July 11, 2006
Apple announces update regarding stock option grants – July 05, 2006
UBS: stock options probe unlikely to hurt Apple – June 30, 2006
Apple joins growing list of companies entangled in stock option ‘irregularities’ – June 29, 2006
Apple to investigate stock option grant ‘irregularities’ made between 1997 and 2001 – June 29, 2006