Apple board woos Al Gore

WASHINGTON: Gore, the 2000 presidential candidate known as one of the most computer savvy U.S. politicians, was voted onto Apple's board on March 19. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the company said it gave its new director Gore 30,000 stock options with an exercise price of $14.95.

Apple shares traded at $14.14 on Monday afternoon on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. The stock traded above $25 in mid-2002. Gore, who celebrated his 55th birthday on Monday, could exercise options for 10,000 common shares in March 2004, another 10,000 in 2005 and the final 10,000 in 2006. The package expires in 2014.

The options granted to Gore reflect Apple's standard compensation for non-executive directors, as described in the company's proxy statement filed last week. While Apple said that Gore is now a Mac user, he was filmed repeatedly on the 2000 campaign trail tapping away on a Thinkpad notebook PC, made by IBM.