The headline business news of this morning is the Steve Jobs Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock options situation. The Financial Times reported that a full board meeting at Apple Computer to authorize the issuance of over 7.5 million stock options to Apple CEO Steve Jobs back in 2001 was falsified.

So they are reporting that the meeting that was documented as taking place never did and even though Steve Jobs did surrender those stock options and did not receive any direct benefit from those options he is still in the line of fire.
Lets talk about Steve Jobs for a moment, he is the person that brought Apple Computer from the brink of extinction and made it what it is today, a mammoth of a company. He orchestrated the deal with Disney (NYSE: DIS) to put him the position of being the largest shareholder at Disney all the while building Apple as the hands down leader in the portable MP3 market.

Through his efforts Apple Computer went from a $10 stock in 2001 to a stock that is on its way to triple digits, investors in Apple have done very well and continue to do so. The concern on the Street is that Steve Jobs is Apple Computer, he is the primary component in Apple’s success and there is no doubt about that. If this situation forces him to step down it will indeed have a very large negative impact on this company.

Now is this going to come to that, its doubtful, because the issuance of stock options at that moment in time was probably boiler plate, of course a board meeting should taken place and not have been falsified but how many companies both private and public have done just that and not been crucified for it?, not yet anyway.

Steve Jobs is the envy of many CEO’s worldwide, he did in his tenure what most investors would want a CEO in a company that they invested in to do. I’ve always said that he is the poster child for CEO’s and will continue to be for some time to come.  

It is unclear as to whether Jobs was aware that a board meeting at Apple Computer was falsified but lets look at some facts, this was back in 2001 and those options were given back to the company already. The company is healthier than it’s ever been and investors are in Apple Heaven.

The SEC may launch a formal probe and Jobs has already secured an outside attorney to represent him just in case. In my opinion the SEC should have more important things on their mind, one being Sarbanes-Oxley, and not crucifying Jobs for a situation that he may or may not have known about, but think about it why would he risk his future for something so ridiculous as those options would have been granted to him anyway.

This is the media on the prowl for a story but at the end of the day it’s my opinion that Steve Jobs will walk away without a mark. It’s year end and perhaps some profit taking will aid in Apple being knocked down a bit but when the dust settles institutions, fund managers, brokerage firms and investors will come to realize that Apple Computer is still growing and once Jobs is cleared they will be more at ease.