Apple filed a Schedule 14A proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, pursuant to its forthcoming shareholder’s meeting scheduled for April 24, 2003. The document provided additional details about former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s appointment to Apple’s Board of Directors.
On March 19, 2003, Apple announced that Gore had accepted a position on the company’s Board of Directors. Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted that his company is the first private-sector board Gore has chosen to serve on (although Gore has also served as a Senior Advisor to Google Inc. and Vice Chairman to Metropolitan West Financial LLC). Jobs also called Gore an avid Mac user who does his own video editing using Final Cut Pro.
In acknowledging his appointment to the Board of Directors, Gore called Apple “the very best in the world,” and said he was particularly impressed with Mac OS X and with Apple’s commitment to open source code.
According to the SEC documentation, Apple offers a standard compensation package to non-employee directors like Gore in the form of options to accrue 30,000 shares of Common Stock. Gore could exercise his options in 10,000 share installments over the next three years, on the anniversary of his election to the Apple board.