Home Depot says some option grants backdated
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Home Depot Inc. said on Wednesday it had unrecorded expenses of about $200 million from errors tied to stock option grants, but correcting the problem would have no material effect on financial statements.
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Is now a good time to invest in the home improvement retailer?
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(InfoWorld) - Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs apologized to shareholders Wednesday after an internal investigation found that he had been aware of the company's practice of "backdating" employee stock options. "I apologize to Apple's shareholders and employees for these problems, which happened on my watch," Jobs said in a statement, released Wednesday. "They are completely out of character for Apple." A three-month investigation by Apple's board of directorsÂ found that the company had backdated option grants made on 15 dates between 1997 and 2002. Its findings raised "serious concerns" about the roles that two former officers had played in the matter, Apple said. Apple did not identify these former officers, but the company's chief financial officer at the time of the grants, Fred Anderson, has resigned from Apple's board of directors, saying that this is "in Apple's best interests," Apple announced Wednesday. Although investigators found no misconduct by any member of Apple's current management, Jobs was aware of "a few instances" of the practice, Apple said. Jobs did not benefit from the backdated grants and "was unaware of the accounting implications." A number of Silicon Valley companies have been embroiled in the growing controversy over the practice of backdating, or allowing employees to be granted stock options dated from an earlier time, when the trading price of these options was lower. McAfee Inc.,Â Broadcom Corp.,Â Sycamore Networks Inc.Â andÂ Rambus Inc., have been implicated in the scandal, and last June criminal charges wereÂ filed against executives from Brocade Communications Systems Inc.Â in connection with that company's stock option granting practices. Apple believes it will have to restate its past SEC filings in order to record charges for its option grants. The company is working "to ensure that this never happens again," Jobs said. Â
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Applications for U.S. home mortgages  were unchanged for the week ended Dec. 17 from the prior week  as an increase in refinancing offset a decrease in purchases,  an industry trade group said.
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KB Home, the No. 5 U.S. home builder, said on Friday the Justice Department was looking into past stock options practices at KB, but added the agency said KB was not a target of the investigation.
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Home Depot Inc.  said on Monday it was considering a sale, spin-off or initial public offering of its professional supply business to focus on its retail stores, reversing a controversial policy of former CEO Robert Nardelli to expand the unit.
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Home Depot Inc. said on Wednesday it  had unrecorded expenses of about $200 million from errors tied  to stock option grants, but correcting the problem would have  no material effect on financial statements.
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The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.
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Home improvement retailer Home Depot cut its 2007 earnings outlook on Tuesday, citing weakness in the U.S. housing market and said it was launching a tender offer for 250 million shares.
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The group that sets US accounting rules decided yesterday to delay for six months its plan to force companies to treat stock option grants as immediate expenses.
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Home improvement retailer Home  Depot Inc.  on Wednesday said it would give stock grants  to its 10,000 assistant store managers as it tries to improve  employee performance and customers&#39; shopping experience.
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Home Depot  is close to accepting about $1.2 billion less for the sale of its wholesale distribution business to three private equity firms, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
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Home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc said on Monday that under a tender offer that expired on August 31, it agreed to buy 289.331 million shares of its common stock for a total value of $10.7 billion.
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Home Depot Inc.  said on Monday that investment firm Relational Investors LLC intends to submit a proposal asking the company to appoint a special committee of independent directors to evaluate its direction, management performance and strategic alternatives.
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Home improvement retailer Home Depot  Inc.  on Tuesday said it would repurchase $22.5 billion  in stock and sell its supply division to three private equity  firms for $10.3 billion as it refocuses on its core retail  business.
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Retailer Home Depot Inc.  said on Thursday that all director nominees were elected to one-year terms at its annual meeting, according to preliminary voting results.
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KB Home, the No. 5 U.S. home builder,  said on Friday the Justice Department was looking into past  stock options practices at KB, but added the agency said KB was  not a target of the investigation.