Apple Sued by Shareholders over Stock Options

Apple Computer on Wednesday said its executives are being sued by a handful of shareholders due to the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer and electronics giant’s announcement last week that it had launched an internal investigation into stock option grants and found that some may have been manipulated between 1997 and 2001, Bloomberg News reports via The New York Times.

The two suits, filed in Federal District Court for the Northern District of California and the State Superior Court for Santa Clara County, charge current and former Apple executives and directors with improperly awarding and manipulating stock grants, Bloomberg reports.

Apple is deciding how best to respond to the legal action, according to Bloomberg.

Last week, Apple announced that it hired an independent counsel to run an investigation into stock option grants, and the probe found stock “irregularities” in relation to how stocks were issued to employees, including Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs. Apple has notified the Securities and Exchange Commission of its findings, and it says the grant issued to Jobs was later canceled and did not result in financial gain.

Apple declined to provide comment on the suit to Bloomberg outside of its brief statement.

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