Apple execs settle stock-options lawsuit
Published: 11 Sep 2008 08:40 BST
Apple executives have settled a shareholder lawsuit filed over its stock-option backdating practices for $14m (£8m).
The executives themselves, including chief executive Steve Jobs, won't have to fork out the cash: that's why they have insurance, according to the Associated Press.
The money goes to the corporation, not the shareholders themselves, because this was a 'derivative' lawsuit that sought compensation on behalf of the company. Attempts by shareholders to sue on their own behalf have been stymied by the fact Apple's stock has risen since the backdating was revealed in late 2006.
Unless anything else surfaces, this is likely to be the end of Apple's stock-option troubles, which forced the company to take an $84m charge in 2006 to properly account for stock-option awards that were given to executives with cherry-picked grant dates. No one from Apple's current management team has been charged, and Securities and Exchange Commission cases against former executives Fred Anderson and Nancy Heinen have been settled.










