Apple’s “revealing” 8K…

Has anyone not heard the news about Steve Jobs stepping down from Apple (AAPL) to focus on his health? Of course not. From the moment it was announced after the market closed on Wednesday that Steve Jobs would be taking the next six months off, the news dominated headlines and video coverage, both online and off. A quick scan of Google shows over 3,000 stories in the past two days about Jobs’ announcement.

Yet this morning, there was Apple filing the 8K “announcing” the news. Of course, it was essentially the same thing they issued on Wednesday, with an additional statement about Apple’s proxy statement that was filed last week.

Now, Apple was just following the rules on 8Ks, which require companies to file an 8K within four business days of any number of events, which of course include the CEO stepping down, even temporarily. And, to be sure, few companies are followed as obsessively as Apple. Still, the 8K seems kind of silly here. Maybe Mary Schapiro will add that to her long list of things to take a closer look at following her confirmation.

Help footnoted.org improve in 2009 by taking our annual survey here.

Advertisement

Posted in SEC stuff Tags: 8Ks, Apple

4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Apple’s “revealing” 8K…”

1. David C Fischer Says:
   January 16th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

   Although silly, I don’t have any beef with the 8-K being filed timely, i.e., delayed, relative to the news release, but Apple and Jobs seemed to be treated with kid gloves, by the press and regulators, re Jobs’s and APPL’s claim during the backdating scandal that he was unaware of the accounting consequences. If there is one thing I’ve found that CEO’s understand intimately, it is the accounting, as well as the tax, consequences of their stock options. I can’t imagine Gates’ trying to get away with such a claim or that MSFT’s board would have been given the benefit of the doubt the way APPL’s has been, in analogous circumstances, if Gates had gotten sick when he was running MSFT.

2. John Says:
   January 17th, 2009 at 12:58 am

   What’s the problem? Apple was required to follow an 8K and they did so. This is news?

3. Michelle Leder Says:
   January 17th, 2009 at 3:11 pm

   No problem — just thought it seemed a bit silly, given how much attention the news got over the past few days.

4. HJ Mann Says:
   January 19th, 2009 at 11:32 am

   I see the irony in the 8K, but as a practical matter, more documentation is better than less.