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NYT Reports Steve Jobs' Exoneration
heyitsgogi writes "The New York Times is reporting that Apple has cleared Steve Jobs of any wrongdoing. From the article: 'In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple said that while its investigation revealed that the company's stock option procedures did not include sufficient safeguards to prevent manipulation, Mr. Jobs did not benefit financially from any questionable stock awards.' As a result of the internal investigation, Apple said it would record $84 million in expenses related to the options awards."
Rosie ODonnell says she's not fat. Geek says that the 10 gadgets hanging out of every pocket makes him look sexy. Linus says that Linux is the best OS ever. Ballmer says the chair threw itself. Pot denys that the kettle is black.
Apple is no Enron. Sometimes they really didn't do it.
Laborare Est Orare
An internal investigation by Microsoft has cleared Steve Ballmer of throwing any chairs.
What a relief... Apple has made a press release that an internal Apple investigation found no wrongdoing by its CEO. I am sure that is worth a lot to the SEC and is in no way damage control against the investor jitters since it was leaked that the SEC was investigating...
"It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance." - Thomas Sowell
Well it is not that Jobs is irreplaceable but Jobs is heart of the company. The reason for Apples success lately was because the systems follows Jobs vision of a computer. Microsoft and Dell tend to compromise what all their customers say they want and put it in. Apple just put in what Jobs like. Hence being able to Switch OS's and Platforms without missing a beat. Democracy doesn't always come up with the best solution just one that everyone can deal with. Apple either you love it or you hate it. Apple does listen to your advice but just because a lot of people want that feature it doesn't mean they will put it in.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The internet is buzzing withspeculation that Steve Jobs may step down over reports that he profited $7.5 million in stock options by falsifying an executive board meeting. The financial times has a good overview of the unfolding story.
From the Article:
"Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer, was handed 7.5m stock options in 2001 without the required authorization from the company's board of directors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Records that purported to show a full board meeting had taken place to approve Mr Jobs' remuneration, as required by Apple's procedures, were later falsified. These are now among the pieces of evidence being weighed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as it decides whether to pursue a case against the company or any individuals over the affair, according to these people."
Getting rid of incompetent management is harder than it sounds. That takes skill & balls. I've read a lot about Jobs' management style. Most CEOs don't seem to be as hands on. He seems to have a no compromise "my way or the highway" approach. I think his value is in his micromanagement.
Check out the documents Apple filed with the SEC Friday acknowledging that a grant of 7.5M options to CEO Steve Jobs with an exercise price of $18.30 dated 10-19-2001 was actually finalized on 12-18-2001 when the share price was $21.01. Apple goes on to note that approval for the grant was 'improperly recorded' as occurring at a special Board meeting on 10-19-2001 - a special Board meeting that Apple now admits did not occur. Apple takes a page out of Mark Hurd's I-know-nothing-playbook, insisting that 'There was no evidence, however, that any current member of management was aware of this irregularity.' Which begs the question: Don't any members of Apple management read those Proxy Statements they provide to investors and the SEC? In 2002 and 2003, Apple's Proxy Statements clearly stated that: 'in October 2001 the Compensation Committee recommended and the Board approved granting Mr. Jobs options to purchase 7,500,000 shares under the 1998 Plan in order to provide him with an incentive to continue to serve as the Company's CEO and maximize shareholder value.' Apple also points out in its SEC filing that Jobs did not receive or financially benefit from backdated options, apparently feeling that the 5M shares of restricted stock Jobs was given after 'voluntarily canceling' his underwater options grants in 2003 shouldn't count.
Really?
Steve Jobs pulled the company back from extinction. During his reign we've seen the rise of OS X, the iMac phenomenon, the iPod juggernaut, iTunes, and other great software. The fact is the design and implementation of nearly all of Apple's products (especially the big ones) owe at least something to Jobs tweaking. Don't forget his massive performances every Macworld (less than 2 weeks, yea!).
The loss of Steve Jobs would be devastating to the company's stock, if not the company it's self.
In fact, not too long after they announced Steve Job's cancer and successful surgery last year there was an opinion piece in Forbes that made a very strong case that they were wrong not to tell the stockholders about it until after it was fixed because he was such an important part of the company that his health really mattered, compared to the financial results if the CEO of Bank of America got cancer. BoA has other capable people and could survive.
True or false, Apple is basically perceived by a great many people to be an extension of Steve of sorts. Without him there, it's not the same Apple.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I mean, god damn people, this isn't ENRON or WorldCOM. Apple sure as hell isn't collapsing like a house of cards. The facts remain: Apple is making shit tonnes of money. Worst Case Scenario out of this event: Apple gets a bit of bad press nobody cares about, they pay a fairly minor fine (compared to their Billions in Cash and liquid assets) of a few hundred million plus maybe some back taxes, and maybe, MAYBE a CFO and some other financial staff get forced into early retirement. That's it. You think the board of directors (let alone the Shareholders(!)) are going to cashier Steve "Reality Distortion Field" Jobs over 10 or so million? HA! Get a fucking life!
Judging by the amount of chaos, unhappiness and general unpleasantness in the world, I submit that Hell is actually pretty efficient...
The so-called reality distortion field is really just demanding perfection. In business, especially large ones, people slack because they know everybody else is slacking. Jobs' reputation of coming down to the smallest employee and either firing them or berating them for not producing perfection means that everybody feels everybody else is doing their part. The key ingredient is that despite this people like Jobs and want the team to succeed. Only a genius leader can do that, and that's why he's so valuable to Apple's success.
OK, let's get this straight.
Apple does an internal investigation, finds a problem, reports itself, and you're comparing this with Enron because they also say Steve Jobs didn't benefit from it?
I guess someone's activated an even more powerful reality distortion field than Steve's.
Now, I can not attest to knowing anything about this ordeal, but it has been interesting to follow how the forum is handling it. I've noted that most of the posts on this forum largely fall into two catagories: flippint remarks, usually involving common cliches and tidbits from geek pop culture thrown in for good measure; and then fairly serious posts by people who actually READ THE ARTICLE, most of which exhonerate Mr. Jobs. Now, I expected quite a few posts that would attempt to clear him and settle the unrest it has caused... but I expected more in opposition by people who actually have something worthwhile to say.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
Jobs is not poor, yet he does very little as a philanthropist short of giving Apple computer discounts to schools to get more market share.
We've been through this before... Jobs may not have made any public announcements about his philanthropy, but that doesn't mean that he's not donating time and/or money to worthy causes. In other words, the only people who know how much (or how little) Jobs gives away is Jobs himself and his accountant.
I'm not trying to excuse any lack of philanthropy - if Jobs is in fact not "giving back" then that is indeed disappointing. But you and I don't know for sure what he's doing with his money (unless you happen to be his accountant).
Okay... he was implicated by an in house audit, AND reported it. Later (after reporting it) it they find that he is innocent. If this was corporate wrong doing, then why would they report it in the first place, AND THEN do responsible action and admit a mistake, and try to fix it?
Yes, corporations can do evil things, and DO evil things. But that does not make everything evil, mistakes still happen, misdirected allegations still happen, just like in real life. Corporations are not intrinsically bad, and their officers are not necessarily corrupt. For every Enron, there is a million not-Enron's. Just because the media makes a big deal of something, does not mean its pervasive. And just because you think all corporations are evil, does not make them so. It is possible to be a good capitalist, and responsible, in fact I'm guessing its the status quo.
And no, I'm not the biggest fan of blatant capitalism, my history will show that. And no, I'm not an Apple fanboy, Apple is just another OS/Platform, and not worthy of a ideological base. Yes, I am using a Mac to type this, but I also have a laptop running Linux and box with XP.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
The 7.5mm Stock award was "given" to Steve Jobs in October 2001, hence details would have been disclosed re Senior Execs remuneration in documents suppled for that yeas AGM. Now we are being told that nobody noticed that there had been no board meeting to award that amount of Shares to the CEO. The CEO didn't notice his award wasn't ratifies by a Board meeting. The CFO didn't notice The Gen Counsel didn't notice The Head of HR didn't notice The internal Audit Dept didn't notice The external Auditors in their review didn't notice. The Board members didn't notice Only 2 people appear to have left Apple. And yet nonone else in the above list noticed this "small" item?
The sad part is so many people put him above reproach and the good guy in contrast to Gates in the great computer wars. Yet in comparing personal lives, Gates gives away more money than Jobs makes, and Jobs is not poor, yet he does very little as a philanthropist short of giving Apple computer discounts to schools to get more market share.
I guess you haven't heard how Jobs has worked with Bono and is working on AIDS amoung other things. Yea you could talk about how Gates gives away more than Jobs makes but then again Gates makes a lot more than Jobs. And how can you give away more than you make? Only by getting others to donate like how Buffet gave most of his fortune, about US$31 billion, to the Gate Foundation.
FalconShould there be a Law?