“Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs was questioned by government investigators leading the U.S. probe into backdated stock options grants at the company, lawyers familiar with the matter said,” Karen Gullo and Connie Guglielmo report for Bloomberg.
Gullo and Guglielmo report, “Jobs met with officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department last week in San Francisco, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the interviews are confidential. Apple said last month an internal review found ‘no misconduct’ by Jobs or current management.”
“The meeting, which took place the same week Apple announced record sales of its best-selling iPod music player, shows the U.S. government is still seeking information about Jobs’s role in the backdating even after the company’s report clearing him and others, said Nell Minow, editor at the Corporate Library, a corporate governance research firm in Portland, Maine,” Gullo and Guglielmo report. ‘It is after all the SEC’s view on his culpability that matters, not the internal investigation at Apple,’ Minow said.”
“The people wouldn’t disclose specifics about what Jobs was asked, what he told investigators and whether there would be additional meetings,” Gullo and Guglielmo report. “Mark Pomerantz, an attorney for Jobs, declined to comment. Luke Macaulay, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan, whose office is investigating Apple, declined to comment, as did SEC spokesman John Nester in Washington.”
More details in the full article here.
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So the news is-NO NEWS?
AAPL gapped lower this morning, primarily on this news. However, AAPL reversed its decline and rose as the broader market rallied. Since then, in early trading, AAPL has slipped back in the red, currently trading around $86.14.
If AAPL can hold in the $85-$90 range, we should see a technical-driven bounce, given that the stock has fallen by ~10% since January 15th.
ron, no this news story is quite significant. It reminds people that the stock options investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department is still underway and has not been resolved.
The operative line in the news story is:
‘It is after all the SEC’s view on his culpability that matters, not the internal investigation at Apple,’
I expected a fall back in the share price after all the good news, but not quite so far…
I wonder how many of those investigators waited until the interviews were over to ask Jobs if they could see the iPhone!!!
The stock drop is overblown– but that doesn’t mean it’s done. The key is will Apple continue to rake in the cash? If so, the stock will go up again in time.
I don’t care how much Apple’s stock drifts around, I just don’t want Steve to be forced out.
Worried.
Jobs is going to jail. Doesn’t the image of Jobs taking it in the iPooper just give you a warm fuzzy? I personally smile when when I think of him blowing Bubba for potection inthe joint. iSuck…iswallow….
If Jobs broke the law he should fry. Just because he’s a popular CEO doesn’t mean he should get special treatement.
Maybe his arrogance has finally caught up to him. I’d like to see him go to jail if he was involved with the option backdating scandal.
upholdthelaw:
Right on. If he breaks the law, he should get the same treatment as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if he has helped AAPL increase in value.
Pay the Piper:
Heh.
Greg:
That’s not what you should be worried about. You should be worried that a company you’re invested in may be condoning and covering up (the report clearing Jobs??) illegal behavior.
Ron:
The news is that the SEC isn’t biting on Apple’s sham investigation. Imagine if the situation were altered slightly. Do you think the SEC would have accepted the results of Enron’s internal investigation clearing Lay? I think not. Not to imply that Jobs = Lay, but don’t let the fact that you love the company influence your judgment.
If the Great One wiggles out of this, it will be because there’s just enough doubt to cause the prosecutors to believe they can’t win. There’s no question about Steve’s responsibility – he’s the CEO and gets both credit he has not earned and blame he may not fully deserve – although it staggers the imagination to believe he didn’t know what was going on with rather extensive and illegal manipulation of corporate records.
what the hell’s a ‘pipper’?
Jim Cramer (famous for his stock calls on his radio show and CNBC’s MadMoney television program) is saying that now is a good time to buy AAPL, because the selling in the stock is now done.
AAPL is trading at $87.12.
Pay the Pipper:
It sounds like you know all about being in jail. Are you speaking from your own experiences? Or are you just daydreaming about your own guilty little pleasures. A deviant little shit like you just has to be one of the MS fanboy trolls. Why don’t you go crawl back up Steve Ballmer’s pooper where you came from and play with his Zune collection.
Good, the “government” should talk to Steve Jobs directly and ask what they want to know. Get the information and get on with life.
Use the RDF, Steve!
What are you fanboys gonna do when Stevie boy is forced to trade in his turtle neck for an orange jumpsuit? Welcome to the ‘prison social’, Stevie boy, this your new roommate big bubba.
LorD 1776,
My pleasure aren’t guilty, buddy. Face it, ‘ole Steve is going to be banged like a cheap screen door in a huricane once he goes to prison by a big fat guy who looks like Ballmer.
Hopefully Steve’s prison cell’s window will have a good “Vista”.
This is good news for Apple, actually, because it means that Steve got a chance to blast the investigators directly with his Reality Distortion Field.
:: Steve waiving hand mysteriously::
“This isn’t the CEO you’re looking for”
:: Investigators, eyes glazing over ::
“This isn’t the CEO we’re looking for. Move along”
Steve’s RDF is the mother of all jedi mind tricks. the force is strong with this one.
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Bryan, you are the smartest person I’ve read here. good job
Ryan, you’re an uber-dweeb. Time to move out of your parent’s basement.
There is no comparison here with Enron. Apple proactively notified the SEC of the irregularities; Enron got caught doctoring the books.
Besides that, Apple and Jobs are playing ball and talking with the investigators, providing information. The two former Apple attorneys, on the other hand, are not talking to the government, citing fifth amendment concerns.
Furthermore, what many people don’t seem to grasp is that there were two investigations: An internal probe by Apple, and an independent one (conducted by a former government investigator). Both cleared the current management team.
And if that wasn’t enough, there’s always the RDF.
I’d say Steve is in good shape.
@ Ryan: ROFLOL
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“ron, no this news story is quite significant. It reminds people that the stock options investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department is still underway and has not been resolved.”
Come on, why still SEC interest. Steve had the Apple board absolve him of all wrongdoing (at least he may or may not have, and that meeting absolving him may or may not have taken place, I guess we’ll never know for sure, the press release could have been forged).