Walt Disney Inc. has announced that it discovered backdated stock options at Pixar, a technology company founded by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during his years away from Apple.
The discovery, as noted by Macworld News, clears Jobs of any wrongdoing.
“The Committee and Board have concluded that while options were backdated at Pixar prior to the acquisition, no one currently associated with the Company engaged in any intentional or deliberate acts of misconduct,” commented Disney representatives.
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Walt Disney Inc. has announced that it discovered backdated stock options at Pixar, a technology company founded by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during his years away from Apple.
The discovery, as noted by Macworld News, clears Jobs of any wrongdoing.
“The Committee and Board have concluded that while options were backdated at Pixar prior to the acquisition, no one currently associated with the Company engaged in any intentional or deliberate acts of misconduct,” commented Disney representatives.
Investigations into stock option grants and irregularities began in 2006, Apple clearing its current executive team of misconduct, even though Jobs was found to be aware of or recommended favorable stock grant dates.
In other stock-related news, Apple, which has been working with the Securities and Exchange Commission, stated that they had discovered that 114,695 options issued between 1997 and 2002 had been assigned erroneous grant dates that preceded the finalization of these option grants.
The end result was that the exercise prices of the stock options would be lower than if they were priced at the correct finalization dates. These options, if exercised after 2005, would be subjust to both federal income taxes as well as a 20% penalty as well as interest charges.
In a statement released today, Apple has declared that it will allow employees to have their options re-priced at a higher level to nullufy the tax liability.
The company has commented that employees will have until April 16th to ask for the repricing and that Apple directors and senior level executives are not eligible to participate in the offer.