Notes from Apple's shareholder meeting
Apple held its annual shareholders meeting in Cupertino on Thursday. Steve Jobs and other company executives addressed pointed questions about the lingering stock options scandal, the Leopard delay, Apple's green policies and iPhone.
Macworld and CNBC have posted notes from the meeting. Some highlights:
"Backdating stock options is unfair to shareholders who can’t travel back in time and purchase shares at past market lows," said Brandon Reese, who said he represented the AFL/CIO. Reese then asked Jobs to give back the restricted stock he received for the canceled options that were improperly dated.
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At the meeting, two environmental proposals were withdrawn without being voted on. Two representatives from Greenpeace were present at the meeting and congratulated Jobs and Apple for the company’s commitment to the environment. However, Jobs had strong words for Greenpeace and the way the organization has chosen to measure the environmental commitments of manufacturing companies.
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One shareholder wanted to know the formula used to determine Jobs' compensation. Said Jobs: "I make a dollar a year. Fifty cents for just showing up; the other 50 cents is based on performance." The crowd cheered.
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another shareholder recognized that Apple's R&D budget is steadily declining, now 4% of revenue. And he worried that major revenue-generating projects could be delayed, or missed all together. He pointed to the delay in Apple's next-generation operating system Leopard as an example. Jobs said research is a lot more about people and quality engineers than it is about the money.
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(On iPhone) "We’re beginners and we have a lot to learn," said Jobs. "The market is large and the opportunities are great. A few of us have been using the iPhone a lot and if you wanted it back, you would have to pry it from our dead hands."
Jobs did acknowledge that the company is still struggling to decide if third-party developers will be able to create software that will run on the iPhone. It’s a decision Apple "is wrestling with," according to Jobs.
More details of the shareholder meeting can be found at Macworld and CNBC.
Meanwhile as the market tanked yesterday, AAPL shares were the only shining stars, reaching a 52-week high of US$108.84 closing yesterday at US$107.34.
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