Apple settles shareholder suit

Apple Inc. settled a lawsuit claiming that company directors and managers, including Chief Executive Steve Jobs, lied to shareholders about how they backdated option awards to maximize personal profit.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose tentatively approved the settlement of the so-called derivative lawsuit brought by Apple investors on behalf of the company against directors and officers for breach of corporate duties, said Fogel’s clerk, Christian Delaney.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple said last year that it backdated 6,428 stock-option grants issued from 1997 to 2002. Apple investigated the backdating, found no misconduct by Jobs, and recorded $84 million in charges to correct its accounting. The Justice Department in July closed its criminal probe of Apple and its executives over backdating.