Stock Options Scandal Rocks McAfee

narramissic writes "ITworld is reporting that in the wake of a stock-options investigation, executive shake-up is under way at security software vendor McAfee, including the firing of the company's president. From the article: 'McAfee announced Wednesday that it has terminated the employment of its president, Kevin Weiss. The company's Chief Executive Officer and Chairman George Samenuk is retiring from those roles and the board of directors has appointed Dale Fuller as interim CEO.'"

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The Crux of the Matter

[Billosaur]

McAfee set up a special committee of independent directors to look into the company's practices of stock-option granting. The committee was assisted by independent counsel and forensic accountants. Based on the committee's findings, McAfee now expects to have to restate financial results over a 10-year period to record pre-tax non-cash charges of between US$100 million and $150 million for stock-based compensation.

Which is where the problem lies in any company that hands out stock options. The trick of "back dating" options so CEOs can cash in on higher returns, coupled with a CEO's knowledge of events in the company, give them unprecedented power to make money off the company's stock while simultaneously causing the company to slide toward oblivion. No one can claim McAfee has exactly been tearing up the anti-virus market of late. Now, having to restate earnings, the stock is threatened with a nose-dive and the other investors are left holding the bag while the defrocked CEOs and Presidents get to walk away with large sums of cash.

Update your signature files

[saboola]

Be sure to update your CEO.dat file on a daily basis, as new CEO's are released into the wild daily.