Apple shares slammed (again) on renewed options concerns

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Shares of Apple Computer dipped more than 4 percent for a second straight day as renewed options concerns sent yet another chill through the investor community, as it fathomed a Mac world without chief executive Steve Jobs at the helm.



Weighing on the company's stock is a report published Wednesday evening by the Financial Times, which stated that documents "that purported to show a full board meeting had taken place to approve" 7.5 million stock options to Jobs in 2001, "as required by Apple's procedures, were later falsified."



Shares of the Cupertino-based company sunk $3.27 or 4.01 percent to $78.25 in pre-market trading, reversing yesterday's rebound from a similar options-related scare which dragged the stock down by as much as 6 percent in the early morning hours.



In its report, the Financial Times said records relating to the falsified board meeting are now among the pieces of evidence being weighed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as it decides whether to bring charges against the company or its officials.



The report did not indicate who was responsible for falsifying the documents, but Apple in a public statement this October said its internal investigation into the options matter found no misconduct by any current officers.



However, Apple did say that the probe "raised serious concerns regarding the actions of two former officers in connection with the accounting, recording and reporting of stock option grants."



In a report by The Recorder published on the Law.com website on Tuesday, those two individuals were identified as former general counsel Nancy Heinen and former chief financial officer Fred Anderson. The publication also claimed that falsified documents lay at the core of Apple's options troubles and that the U.S. attorney's office has expressed "great interest" in the matter.



The report sent company shares on an early morning skid that eventually corrected itself after analysts on Wall Street downplayed the concerns, leveling the heads of frazzled investors.



Apple shares ended the day in the green, up one penny to $81.52.



Apple is one of more than 160 companies that are either under federal investigation or that have launched their own inquiries into whether they manipulated grant dates of options to benefit executives who received them, according to the Associated Press.



The results of the company's internal investigation into the matter are expected to be revealed in much detail as part of a delayed annual filing due this Friday.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    Prepare for a volatile ride ahead, my friends.... (and iPhone/iTV will add to the volatility mix).



    This one is going to get worse before it gets better.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    There is nothing new about this. These concerns were revealed in October (if not earlier) and now are recycled just to push the stock price down. It didn't really work yesterday and likely it won't today as well, fonds and as it seems people on AI as well just created perfect buying opportunity before MW and earnings. This is completely gamed and should be considered criminal.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    Oh for frig's sake, can't we just get this over with.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    crees!crees! Posts: 501member
    Can we have just a little more regurgitation? At least condense all this crap into one posting.
  • Reply 5 of 13
    This week will shed some light. To me this report doesn't make any sense. The options were not hidden, so if the board met or not, the board all knew about this. Any objections could have been raised. So I think this report doesn't matter. If there is something that will affect Jobs, it isn't this.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by leee View Post


    This is completely gamed and should be considered criminal.



    I totally agree with you, Leee. F*ck that.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    Quote:

    Shares of Apple Computer dipped more than 4 percent for a second straight day as renewed options concerns sent yet another chill through the investor community, as it fathomed a Mac world without chief executive Steve Jobs at the helm.

    ...

    Shares of the Cupertino-based company sunk $3.27 or 4.01 percent to $78.25 in pre-market trading, reversing yesterday's rebound from a similar options-related scare which dragged the stock down by as much as 6 percent in the early morning hours.



    This is a rather poor article. I just checked the stock price and it's showing it opening at around 80 and staying there, a 2% drop not 4 to 6%. Pretrading prices aren't worth too much. Also, the article waited until the third paragraph to mention that yesterday's drop was mostly reversed.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    This is probably against the posting guidelines, but some of you are really, really, stupid.



    Apple doesn't drop some of the worst news in their history as a company to "game" their stock price.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    flounderflounder Posts: 2,674member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gregmightdothat View Post


    This is probably against the posting guidelines, but some of you are really, really, stupid.



    Apple doesn't drop some of the worst news in their history as a company to "game" their stock price.



    I think people were implying the analysts were gaming the stock price, not apple.
  • Reply 10 of 13
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gregmightdothat View Post


    This is probably against the posting guidelines, but some of you are really, really, stupid.



    Apple doesn't drop some of the worst news in their history as a company to "game" their stock price.



    You think that leee and saschke mean that Apple is doing this to their stock? I think they mean that certain investors on Wall St. are trying their best to get information released that de-stabilises AAPL so that they can make tones of money on the falling and climbing stock. If the stock falls to $60 (or even $70) before Macworld, someone is going to make millions for no work but seeding "Jobs is going to jail" rumours.



    I'm not sure that anyone is doing this deliberately, but I bet there are a lot of people who think that this is a great Christmas present.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    Maybe the author(s) of this article are contributing to this volatility with writings such as, "as it fathomed a Mac world without chief executive Steve Jobs at the helm.".



    I have seen no other articles with such dramatic writings, and we all know most of the analysts come here to get some of their information.



    So I wonder how many shares AI management own?!!!!!
  • Reply 12 of 13
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by psionic001 View Post


    ...So I wonder how many shares AI management own?!!!!!



    FULL DISCLOSURE!
  • Reply 13 of 13
    sjksjk Posts: 603member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gregmightdothat View Post


    This is probably against the posting guidelines, but some of you are really, really, stupid.



    Maybe it's within posting guidelines to say, instead, that some of the comments are really, really stupid?
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