March 8, 2007
According to the Wall Street Journal, Grand Theft Auto publisher Take Two Interactive was one of several companies that may have used the post 9/11 stock market plunge to backdate stock options, thereby ensuring windfall profits for executives.Citing the WSJ report, the Associated Press writes:
Several public companies have acknowledged backdating of stock options granted after Sept. 11, 2001, in the latest twist in the options-timing scandal that suggests some executives may have profited from Wall Street's plunge following the terror attacks...
Some companies recently have admitted to improperly dating options grants to executives and other employees to make it appear that they were awarded at low points in the companies' stock prices after Sept. 11...
Options can be made more lucrative by backdating their exercise price to a historically low point in the stock's value.
As reported by GamePolitics, former Take Two CEO Ryan Brant (left) recently plead guilty in the options scam.
Comments
any less, or any more, is injustice. It should in itself be criminal.
making an example of someone is by definition punishing someone excessively to produce fear in others
permitting examples is permitting injustice.
which, by the way, doesn't do anything to deter crime.
how many people do you know that montor sentencing hearings?
honestly... if you get 'made an example of', no one but you will know about it.
in this case, the crime is hardly impressive. cheating the system...
if you can get 10 years for murder, then this deserves about 2 months jail.
think about it. no one was hurt. no *people* were even affected.
quite simply : *in case the company sold stock to people with these options*, it would make less money on the deal than it would have otherwise.
so really, unless they actually bought stock with their unlawful options, _nothing_ actaully changed.
if they did, the only thing affected was the corporate cash on hand. it grew by less than it would have otherwise.
unimpressive.
it amounts to stealing from the company... the company they are in charge of anyways.
meh'
the only people that would even remotely care are the regular stock holders. normal stock holders would be jealous, since they had to pay full price.
but still, normal stock holders weren't affected negatively. they just weren't affected positively like the executives. normal stock holders were still treated fairly. they just wish that they had been treated unfairly (in the positive sense) like the executives. pure emotion. no results.
just let the 'corporation' take the executives to court for attempt at theft.
would be funny having executives hire lawyers to take themselves to court. it tickles me.
-scheherazade
I guess the SEC is just a buncha clueless noobs making things up as they go along.
Sheesh.
The way a company is run is nothing to do whatsoever with the product it sells, however, sometimes I get annoyed that HC is mentioned in relation to this, even if, to be fair, they are only looking at its impact on TT's Stock Market presence.
Why does that sound familiar? ;)
muders get set free daily so why are we hounding a poor rich guy...*rolls eyes*
I am sorry but it steal money from a company or harm it where investers lose money (Enron) then you need to be held to a HIGH standard and punished thusly,if you take a life in cold blood you should die as well.
then again....I see where you are going.....civilail suits can get far more nasty than criminal ones...mmmmm