Favorable outlook for CEO Steve Jobs pumps up Apple shares

“Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose 2.8% to $93.51. A report Monday in the San Jose Mercury News said prospects for a criminal case against Jobs ‘appear dim.’ Based on the paper’s own reporting, there is little evidence that Jobs directed the backdating of his own 2001 options grant that is central to a current federal probe into Apple’s past accounting practices,” John Letzing reports for MarketWatch.

“Apple had said in a December regulatory filing that Jobs was aware of the backdating but that he didn’t financially benefit from the practice nor fully understand its accounting implications. An internal probe conducted by the company’s board found no wrongdoing by Jobs. Apple did, however, restate past financial results due to the backdating of employee stock option grants,” Letzing reports.

Letzing reports, “Shares of Apple rival Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) fell nearly 1% to $28.78.”

Full article here.

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs likely to avoid criminal charges in options backdating probe – April 21, 2007