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| Thursday, April 19, 2007 |
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Change your stock practices, shareholders tell Apple
8:33AM, Wednesday 18th April 2007
A filing made by Apple this week indicates that some of its shareholders are asking it to change its stock options practices in light of investigations into irregularities in past grants.
Amalgamated BankLongView Collective Investment Fund and Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds have proposed that stock options granted to senior Apple executives should have an exercise price equal to an average of the opening and closing prices of the underlying stock on the grant date.
The shareholders have also asked that options grant dates should be set and disclosed in advance, according to an Apple filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The request is one of six shareholder proposals due to be voted on at Apple's annual meeting on May 10.
Apple, the maker of the popular iPod digital music players and Macintosh computers, is among dozens of companies under scrutiny for their accounting of stock options granted to executives. The main issue for many companies is whether they changed the date of stock options grants to take advantage of a temporary decline in the underlying share price.
Apple said in December it would take an $84 million charge for misdating more than 6,400 stock options.
The company urged shareholders to vote against the options proposal, saying the policy is unnecessary and would 'hinder the board's ability to attract and retain talented senior executives.'
It also said the proposal does not apply to its current compensation policy, since it has not granted stock options to any senior executives since 2003, relying instead on restricted stock units which have no exercise price.
'If Apple did grant stock options to senior executives in the future, the Board believes that implementation of the proposal could have the unintended consequence of removing or reducing the incentive for executives to increase shareholder value in the short term,' it said in the proxy statement.
Cupertino, California-based Apple previously said an internal review found two questionable options awarded to its Chief Executive Steve Jobs, but found no wrongdoing by him or other current management.
Apple shares rose slightly to $90.35 in premarket trade, compared with its close on Friday at $90.24.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/110426/change-your-stock-practices-shareholders-tell-apple.html |
| posted by Perimbean @ 12:40 AM |
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