The Wall Street Journal this morning reports that the feds are investigating Apple’s backdated stock options grants to Steve Jobs. The way the story reads, however, makes it sound as if the investigators are reading from the script that Al Gore and Steve Jobs wrote: no wrong doing by current management–all the backdating miscreants are formers. You know, former attorneys for Apple. Former financial offers. Formers.
But can Jobs really escape further scrutiny? Apple itself has admitted that Jobs personally recommended favorable dates for some stock options grants, although not the grants that he received. Have the feds adopted the Apple standard of guilt? If so, this will be news to us. In the past, the feds have indicated that direct self-dealing was not sole the test for criminality of backdating, and that the benefit to executives from employee retention through backdated grants crossed the line. We’re not saying we want the feds to go after Jobs but we’re sure there are quite a few executives out there who are scratching their heads over what appears to be the Jobs Immunity Defense to backdating.

Investigators are now focusing on the grant to Mr. Jobs for 7.5 million options that were finalized in December 2001, when Apple’s share price was higher. The false dating increased the value of the grant to Mr. Jobs, and resulted in a retroactive $20 million charge to Apple’s earnings when it was discovered by a special internal investigation.
People familiar with the matter say the false documentation was created by an Apple attorney named Wendy Howell, whom the company quietly dismissed last month. Ms. Howell contends that Apple’s general counsel at the time, Nancy Heinen, instructed her to create the false documentation, these people say. Thomas Carlucci, Ms. Howell’s attorney, said that while at Apple “Ms. Howell acted as instructed by Apple management and with the company’s best interest being paramount.”
Ms. Heinen left Apple in May for reasons that were unrelated to backdated options, a person familiar with the matter says. Her attorney, Cristina C. Arguedas, says Ms. Heinen didn’t knowingly engage in any wrongdoing and denies she instructed Ms. Howell to falsify documentation. Ms. Arguedas said in a statement that “each of the option grants involving Ms. Heinen was authorized and approved by her superiors.”

U.S. Scrutinizes Grant to Jobs [Wall Street Journal]

One of the reasons we love poking fun at Warren Buffett is the reaction we get from his many admirers, fans, groupies and cultists. Our latest post on the old man of Omaha, wondering if part of the mysterious hold Buffett seems to have over the psyches of some people was based on his resemblance to a Midwest grandmother, drew a lot of comments. In fact, we wrote that post last week and it’s still drawing comments. (Is there some central clearing house of Buffett fans dispatching commenters to DealBreaker or do we just naturally have an outsized readership of Buffett fans? Doesn’t the latter seem unlikely?)
The most over the top comment came from “Cir,” who literally elevated Buffett to the level of divinity. “Let me explain. Buffett is no mere mortal like you and me. As investors we’re fortunate enough to be around the same time as the great one. Doubtful that there will be another one like him in the next 100 yrs. Buffett’s has no peer in the investment world. He is comparable to only other historical greats (genius) like Einstein and DaVinci,” Cir wrote.
There are lots more like that. And in fact, they are quite diverse. Some admire Buffett because he makes lots of money (fair enough). And others because he is a “good person” (open to debate). Still others because he is a kind of Nietzschean Uber-man (scary). Check out the comments and feel free to keep the debate going!

Making gypsum wallboard may not be the most glamorous business, but some investors seem to be betting that it will catch the eye of billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett. Shares of building-materials company USG rose 8.3 percent on speculation that Mr. Buffett, its biggest shareholder, may want to buy the company, Bloomberg News reported. An analysts told Reuters that there is also talk of a potential private equity bid for the company, which has a market capitalization of about $5 billion.

USG Stock Jumps Amid Takeover Speculation [DealBook]

As you might have noticed, we kind of don’t get the appeal of Warren Buffett. Other than the whole, you know, making a lot of money thing. But beyond that, we’re kind of creeped out by the weird cult of personality he seems to attract. (And if you have your doubts about this, take a brief skim through some of the comments from cult-members in our Warren Buffett archive.)
But then today we came across a woman who watched a CNBC interview with Buffett over the weekend with her husband. It’s a bit weird, but then we thought—maybe this is it! Maybe everyone loves Warren because he reminds them of their grandmother!

Buffet’s interview was the last one we had seen. It was fascinating. I never knew I liked Buffet, but I do. He has a great mind — even outside of his financial thinking. Buffet is a genuine, sincere and happy man. He is the kind of man when something bad happens to him, he quickly puts it into perspective, copes and looks forward. He doesn’t dwell on what he can’t control. He doesn’t stew, he doesn’t get mad — he just gets perspective.
I explained to my husband, Buffet is much like his own grandmother was. It was when I was watching Buffet that I first saw the jawline of my husband’s dad. Buffet has a similar jawline to my father-in-law — and as he was talking — my father-in-law’s face came to mind. Then as Buffet’s jovial spirit continued to come across the screen, I saw my husband’s grandmother — his father’s mother in Buffet, in bits and flashes. Not in looks so much as his father — but in personality.
As the flashes came to me, I had an instant connection, much without thought — that these two people (my husband’s grandmother and Buffet) shared a similar personality trait — the trait of jovial happiness. With that, knowing his grandmother, I could predict how Buffet would behave given certain circumstances. If Buffet told me he was crossed, and stewed for days about a deal gone bad and wanted revenge — I wouldn’t believe him. I’d know better! My husband’s grandmother would get upset briefly, but then she’d let it go and move on. So would Buffet.

The Human Lie Detector [Eyes for Lies]