Tobak's take on Steve Jobs' role in the stock options backdating scandal at Apple. In researching this post, I came across a number of recent reports on Henry Nicholas III, the once high-flying CEO and cofounder of Broadcom. The allegations of illicit sex, drugs, and rock and roll reminded me of the 60s Funny, I can't remember. While the story was enthralling, I didn't understand what any of it had to do with a federal investigation into stock option backdating. But how does that relate to hiring prostitutes and drugging customers without their knowledge? Said another way, do the feds really need to dig that deep to find enough rope to hang executives with? After all, stock option backdating is all the rage these days. You'd think they'd be up to their eyeballs in rope. I count no fewer than 38 top executives scandal 19 high-tech companies that have bit the dust over this stuff. We're talking top executives at big-name companies like Apple, Altera, Broadcom, Brocade, Cirrus Logic, Options, KLA-Tencor, Maxim, McAfee, Rambus, Sanmina-SCI, Take Two, Trident, Verisign, and Vitesse. And we're just getting started. That's serious fallout considering scandal options backdating is legit as long as the company reports it and accounts for it accurately. You options, if you backdate stock options to a date when the price of the stock was lower, then the options are "in-the-money" when granted. That means the company incurs an expense equal to the difference in the share price between the two dates. If you cover it up and fail to report that expense, the way Apple's folks allegedly did, well, that amounts to stock fraud. While a few of those 38 terminations may turn out to be the result of scandal activity, it's likely that the vast majority fell on their swords to avoid sullying the good names of their companies. Of course, they may have actually been pushed on their swords by their boards, but let? In the case of Apple, not only did the board send two sacrificial lambs to slaughter, but the feds hung some pretty hefty charges on their necks to boot. The lambs in question are former Sr. VP, General Counsel, and Secretary Nancy Heinen, and former CFO and director Fred D. The SEC's complaint focuses on the backdating of two large option grants, one of 4. Heinen allegedly covered up the back-dating, which caused Apple's earnings to be inflated. This apparently violates a whole bunch of SEC rules. Options also exercised and soldback-dated shares. That's a big hit for Heinen who, at 50, presumably had lots of mileage left in her career. Anderson got nailed because, according to the complaint, he should have noticed what Heinen was doing and either stopped it or reported the expense properly. He also exercised and soldback-dated shares. That seemed like a contradiction to me, but whatever. Anderson had already retired in so, except for giving up some money and his board seat, he got off relatively easy, compared to Heinen. As for Jobs, a report from Apple's internal investigation indicated that, while he was indeed aware of the options backdating, "he did not financially benefit from these grants or appreciate the accounting implications. Never mind that Anderson, in a press releaseclaimed to have informed Jobs of the accounting implications of backdating options in Or that Jobs gave up his outstanding options, which were "underwater," in exchange for 5 million restricted shares in Or that an investigation by Disney into options backdating at Pixar also cleared Jobs of any wrongdoing, even though he helped negotiate the deal in which Pixar's star film director, John Lasseter, received backdated options. Claims that Jobs was unaware of the accounting implications of backdating are hardly believable, but there was no evidence to the contrary. And, he did not directly scandal from the backdated options because they were canceled and exchanged for restricted shares. Worst case, it happened on Jobs' watch, but he was far enough removed from the action to claim plausible deniability. Look, this stock isn't black and white. Broadcom and others fingered the CEO, but that just shows how subjective this issue is. At the end of the day, Jobs dodged a bullet because of 1 stock value to Options shareholders, 2 his value to the U. Plus, the Google Pixel 2 phone might be manufactured by LG, the Essential Phone will launch on a not-so essential phone carrier and LG's V30 may come in August. In today's tech news, YouTube takes steps to fight extremist content, a headband could help treat depression and a Microsoft Surface exec says iPad Pro's a copycat. 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Cars Best Cars News Reviews Recalls Pictures AutoComplete Carfection Cooley On Cars Concept Cars Electric Cars How to buy scandal best Coupe Crossover Electric Vehicle Family Car Stock Minivan Sedan Truck. Join CNET Member Benefits Sign In to CNET Signed in as My Profile My Profile Forums Sign Out. How Jobs dodged the stock option backdating bullet Tobak's take on Steve Jobs' role in the stock options backdating scandal at Apple. More stories Jay-Z's new '4: How Jobs dodged the stock option backdating Conversation powered by Livefyre. Just admit it, we love game sequels. Google's Pixel XL 2 rumored to be axed for a bigger Pixel phone Plus, the Google Pixel 2 phone might be manufactured by LG, the Essential Phone will launch on a not-so essential options carrier and LG's V30 may stock in August. YouTube tackles terrorism, Microsoft accuses Apple of copying In today's tech news, YouTube takes steps to fight extremist content, a headband could help treat depression and a Microsoft Surface exec says iPad Pro's a copycat.
TQM provides organization with an action plan that helps to produce and deliver goods and services which are consistent with the needs of the consumer.
Clearly define course requirements, the dates of exams and when assignments are due.
TQM provides organization with an action plan that helps to produce and deliver goods and services which are consistent with the needs of the consumer.