“A while back, one of my father’s best friends told him this: ‘Major corporations are run primarily for the benefit of those in the executive suite. Don’t forget it.’ Though his position as a top-level exec at many of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies made him an expert on the topic, I always kind of hoped he was wrong,” Seth Jayson writes for The Motley Fool. “Yesterday, Apple proved to me, once again, that he was speaking the truth.”
“Last night, the company admitted through a statement that superstar CEO Steve Jobs ‘was aware that favorable grant dates had been selected.’ Yet, in a bizarre semantic exercise, it simultaneously concluded, ‘The investigation found no misconduct by any member of Apple’s current management team,'” Jayson writes. “Apple’s special investigation unit apparently decided that there was neither harm nor foul, because Jobs ‘did not receive or otherwise benefit from these grants and was unaware of the accounting implications.'”
Jayson writes, “What a load. Jobs began his life as a programmer. Surely he’s capable of doing the basic math that reveals the following simple truth: When you backdate (or springload) options, you hand the recipients potential monetary gains in excess of those they actually deserve. Excusing Jobs simply because he didn’t benefit personally looks like another flimsy exercise in self-serving corporate-speak. Let me see if I get this straight: It’s OK for Jobs to know about and condone (whether explicitly or through inaction) options backdating, because he didn’t see any extra greenbacks flow into his wallet?”
“Of course, Jobs is too important to answer for shenanigans under his watch, even if he was aware of them. Instead, Apple served up perhaps the world’s scrawniest sacrificial lamb. CFO Fred Anderson fell on his sword, but don’t worry — it’s only a flesh wound. He’s already the former CFO, and now he’s just resigning from the board of directors. The only consequence for Jobs so far is the need to have his name appended to a terse apology from Apple corporate,” Jayson writes.
Jayson writes, “I have no doubt that this brouhaha will fade quickly. Jobs maintains his enviable spot as the media’s darling. Personally, I’d love to see what the response would be if this statement came from some Wall Street punching bag — say, Microsoft, Home Depot, Hewlett-Packard, or — heavens to Betsy — an oil company. Gates, Ballmer, Nardelli, Hurd, or any oil exec would have been tarred and feathered before morning.”
Full article here.
Apple’s not rotten at the core. Maybe a little wormy in spots, but not rotten.
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