August 29, 2001: During a meeting, Apple’s board of directors awards Steve Jobs new stock options that will become part of a stock-backdating scandal several years later.
When the matter eventually ends up in court, Apple’s former general counsel pays $2.2 million to settle charges that she backdated stock options for Jobs, herself and others — and created fake paperwork to hide this fact.
Apple’s VP of communications is stepping away from the company after leading Apple’s public relations efforts for the last five years.
Steve Dowling, who worked at Apple for 16 years, sent out a memo to staff saying that now is the time for him to step away from the company. The news comes right after Apple’s biggest PR week of the year, the fall iPhone keynote, but Dowling’s note to employees is full of optimism for the iPhone-maker.
Natatlie Kerris has been one of the most prominent figures on Apple’s PR team for the past decade, but today she announced that she’s ready to jettison from the mothership.
In a message posted on Twitter today, Kerris says she’s stepping away from Apple after working at the company for the past 14 years. The former PR director hasn’t said what she’ll be doing next, but based on the Steve Jobs quote she shared in her tweet, she’ll be moving on to a new adventure soon.
Apple has looked within its own ranks to find who will lead its “friendlier” PR approach, at least for now. Despite looking at outside candidates like former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, the company has settled on one of its own veterans as interim PR boss.
Apple has been sued by THX, the company founded by Star Wars producer George Lucas, in a patent case filed in a federal court in Northern California. The case was part of a list of new filings in the court clerk’s office, Bloomberg reports.
