More than 100 public companies were implicated in a massive backdating scandal that involved manipulating stock option grant dates. Executives profited unearned gains at shareholders' expense by timing options to coincide with stock price dips. The simplicity of backdating allowed it to spread without necessitating complex cover-ups. A detailed analysis of compensation data revealed these troubling patterns, suggesting a systemic issue within corporate behavior and executive compensation practices, with parallels observable in contemporary financial practices.
Executives at hundreds of companies were manipulating stock option grant dates to enrich themselves at the expense of shareholders. This practice became known as backdating.
My journey into this murky corner of corporate behavior began with a desire to understand how executive compensation influenced firm decisions.
Stock option grants often coincided with recent dips in the company's share price. Too often.
Backdating didn't require complex financial engineering or elaborate cover-ups. It was a quiet manipulation of paperwork.
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