Apple after the bell 10/11/06: options issues spread further

Well, if that Bloomberg article has got the facts right, it seems like backdater Steve desperately wanted to profit from backdated options, but the market wouldn't co-operate at the time. But he was "taken care of" anyway.
Investors can decide for themselves about APPL, but they should be objective and not let their own greed cloud their thinking. Look at what was done just a few years ago and ask if the character of these executives has really changed that much since then. Are these the one's you can trust enough to invest with? Ask yourselves what would a guy like Warren Buffet do? Would he invest his money?

Tobias, the last time the stock dropped and I commented it was due to renewed stock option news you said that was "old news" and it didn't matter. You finally got it right this time. Congratulations! Anytime there is news out there that is negative for Mr. Jobs, it shows in the stock price.

Ultimately, I don't think there will be much of an issue but it will take time to resolve completely. And, soon we will have earnings and the world will realize that the media focus on the iPod is misguided. The story is in the computers. Analysts are expecting 1.5 million units (up from 1.2 a year ago) but they will be 1.7 million at minimum with a lot of laptops (i.e., good margins).

What the Bloomberg author fails to take into account is that this particular stock grant is the least suspicious of those thus far cited.

Granted that January 12, 2000, was the low price for the month; however:

One, on January 19 (the same date that Apple reported earnings), Apple announced (see http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2000/jan/19ceocomp.html ) that "Steve’s stock options were granted a week ago". Taking the press release literally, "a week ago" would be January 12.

And two, had Jobs kept those 10 million options, after two splits, they would have turned into 40 million options with an exercise price of $21.80. At the current stock price of $73.23, those options would be worth over two *BILLION* dollars. Add to that the 7.5 million other options he traded in (which post split would be another 15 million shares with an exercise price of $9.15) and he would have had another 960 million dollars.

So the options he didn't keep would have grossed him *THREE BILLION* dollars.

So, odd though it sounds, I don't begrudge the man trading in his options for restricted stock since, at the moment, it's cost him 2.5 billion.

reinharden