First Apple COO Tim Cook received $US12.3 million in stock for watching the company while Steve Jobs was on sick leave and now he’s receiving an additional cash-and-stock bonus worth $US22 million. More »
The Headset Hotties blog documents instances of headset hotties—stock photos of (mostly) women used in low-budget template-based websites.
The storm after Gizmodo uncovered the real state of Steve Jobs’ health–and despite CNBC and Jim Goldman’s best efforts screw-ups–keeps growing. Now the SEC is examining Apple’s behaviour to “ensure investors weren’t misled,” Bloomberg reports:
Standard and Poor’s Rating Services acknowledges what Giz readers have known for a long time: They now classify Motorola as junk. Specifically, their Ratings Services cut its long-term corporate credit rating for Motorola to junk status. Last week, though, Moody’s Investors Services also warned of future cuts to Moto’s rating, which is hanging on two notches above junk. This all means it’ll be even harder for Motorola to get cash, like for R&D or other projects. Clearly, however, none of these people have heard of the Moto Krave, which has a full touchscreen, two megapixel camera and fits right in with sports cars. [WSJ via BBG Faucet]
Steve and the gang already threw a party when the last federal investigator on the stock backdating case filed out of 1 Infinite Loop (“Hey, you forgot your 5-year old Thinkpad! Haha, suckers!”). But now, the remaining civil suits that were still active have been settled (with no admission of wrongdoing) for US$14 million, all of which will be paid by the investment insurance coverage of the defendants–Jobs, along with several other suits and VPs. But still, since the shareholders who were the plaintiffs were suing on behalf of the company, the money will end up back in Apple’s hands. Look for some boss new espresso machines and maybe a moon bounce over in Jobs’ neck of the woods, thanks to the now US$14-million heavier “luxuries for the exec wing” budget. [AP, Apple Insider]
