By Prince McLean
Published: 10:00 AM EST
Even if Apple Computer is found guilty of improperly backdating stock option grants, chief executive Steve Jobs is likely to remain clear of any liability, one Wall Street analyst says.
On Thursday, Apple provided an update on its internal probe into the options scandal, saying its likely the company may need to
restate its historical financial results to reflect non-cash charges for stock options compensation.
"While Apple hasn't been formally charged by the SEC or even received an informal inquiry, we do not find this update surprising and anticipate a minor impact to GAAP financials, " American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu told clients on Friday.
Based on his own analysis, Wu said stock compensation at Apple is not a large component relative to its earnings and compared to most other technology companies. "For example, over the last seven quarters, stock options compensation is typically $0.03 to $0.06 vs. its quarterly earnings of $0.34 to $0.65," the analyst said.
But more importantly, Wu said, it's his continued belief that even in the worst case scenario where Apple is found guilty of improper options granting, chief executive Steve Jobs will not be found liable. "The reason being the compensation committee at Apple is run by an independent board that is not comprised of employees of Apple," he said.
Apple has acknowledged that one of the problematic grants
was issued to Jobs, but said it was subsequently cancelled and resulted in no financial gain to the CEO.
If Jobs were to be found liable of fraud in the backdating of option grants, he could be forced to step down from the company.
