Apple Computer's stock fell $1.64 per share, or two percent, following a report that indicated that Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who returned to the company in 1997, was awarded 7.5 million stock options in 2001 without proper authorization from the company's board of directors. The revelation was made public via a recently released Financial Times article.

The article reports that records logging a full board meeting, which is required to approve stock options remunerations, were later falsifed. These records are now under review by the Securities and Exchange Commission as it decides which investigative avenues to pursue (individual or company-wide) and Apple is expected to discuss the situation along with details about an additional investigation as to stock option irregularities and backdating within the company at the annual meeting on Friday.

Additional questions and pressures have arisen given the fact that Jobs has sought legal counsel outside the company, despite having been above the fray of the investigation since it began this fall. To date, Jobs had claimed he had been "aware" of the backdating "in a few instances", but claimed he had never benefited from these actions or been aware of the accounting implications.

In October of 2001, Jobs' stock options were offered at an exercise price of $18.30 per share while the alleged board authorization occurred near the end of 2001. Such an action would indicate that the options weren't properly authorized and had been backdated to maximize the value of Jobs' stock options.

Jobs would later surrender the stock options before exercising them, thereby not showing any actual gain on the transaction. The Apple CEO would later be given a grant of restricted stock by the company in lieu of the options, this value perhaps having been calculated on the backdated stock options and targeted by the investigation.

Apple has reportedly refused to comment on the issue, but a spokesman has claimed the company has handed the findings of its own internal investiation to the SEC. The company has stated that its investigation found "no misconduct by any member of Apple's current management team", although two executives - Nancy Heinan, former senior vice president and Fred Anderson, former chief financial officer for the company, both resigned as of this year.

Anderson may be under investigation for a different set of actions, as he was not a part of the board of directors as of the October, 2001 decision that's pertinent to Jobs' reported role in the case.

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