Jobs, Execs Settle Suit on Backdated Apple Options

Apple CEO Steve Jobs and several current and former execs have reached a tentative settlement on a shareholder lawsuit alleging they backdated stock options to boost their pay, the Wall Street Journal reports. Apple will receive $14 million in the deal, which would end a series of state and federal suits that followed the company’s admission of improper grants in 1997-2002.

Backdating—which sets the stock option price lower—is legal as long as it’s reported correctly. Apple has agreed to change corporate governance procedures as part of the settlement. Apple gets the $14 million since shareholders technically brought the suit on its behalf against the executives.
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