Apple CEO Steve Jobs has apologized to shareholders 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. "They are completely out of character for Apple."
A three-month investigation by Apple"s board of directors 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.