Apple said Thursday that it had begun an internal investigation into irregularities that have been discovered related to issuance of certain stock option grants between 1997 and 2001.
A special committee of Apple’s outside directors has hired independent counsel to perform an investigation and the company has informed the SEC. Apple executives will refrain from commenting further on this matter until the independent investigation is concluded.
“Apple is a quality company, and we are proactively and transparently disclosing what we have discovered to the SEC,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “We are focused on resolving these issues as quickly as possible.”