All options, all the time
BusinessWeek’s Peter Burrows talked with options expert Erik Lie. Lie doesn’t think Jobs is necessarily out of the woods, but the Macalope found the last graph most interesting.
I then asked if he thought Jobs was getting an easier time than the dozens of other executives that have lost their jobs over the backdating scandal, simply becuase of Jobs’ celebrity and iconic reputation with investors and consumers. He said no. Rather, he pointed out his belief that there are many executives that have flouted options accounting rules that have not yet even been identified. “I believe there are potentially thousands of executives who have gotten completely off the hook. Because he’s steven jobs, he’s more in the spotlight….The media has been struggling to put a face on this scandal. If anything, he’s been treated unfairly relative to other people who have been completely unscathed.”
The Macalope has been harder on Jobs and Apple over the backdating of options than many other members of the Apple community, but he thinks Lie is absolutely correct here.
And you can scroll down for his “Martha Stewart” comment below as evidence that this isn’t a case of the tail wagging the Macalope.
I’m still trying to figure out where the “scandal” is. Were they braking the law or merely violating company bylines? Were they stealing from the company or merely paying themselves too much? Were the stock holders or the company injured in any way? Except for some bad press, the stock price for Apple has sky-rocketed during that time period; in a good way, not an “Enron” way.
The whole thing sounds like the “scandal” was invented by the press.
Well, it is a crime to knowingly misrepresent the company’s financials to the SEC. There is a fiduciary responsibility to provide accurate information to the shareholders.
Previously we only knew that the information the company provided wasn’t accurate. Now we know someone forged documents. Seems pretty clear that someone breached the fiduciary trust.