Apple executives have settled a shareholder lawsuit filed over its stock-option backdating practices for US$14 million.
The executives themselves, including CEO Steve Jobs, will not actually have to cough up the cash: that is why they have insurance, according to the Associated Press. And the money actually goes to the corporation, not the shareholders themselves, because this was a "derivative" lawsuit that sought compensation on behalf of the company. Attempts by shareholders to sue on their own behalf have been stymied by the fact that Apple's stock has actually risen since the backdating was revealed in late 2006.
Unless anything else surfaces, this is probably the end of Apple's stock-option troubles, which forced the company to take an US$84 million charge in 2006 to properly account for stock option awards that were given to executives with cherry-picked grant dates. No one from Apple's current management team has been charged, and Securities and Exchange Commission cases against former executives Fred Anderson and Nancy Heinen have been settled.
This article was first published as a blog on CNET News.com.
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