Posted on 11/12/2006 8:05:09 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- KB Home CEO, President and Chairman Bruce Karatz has resigned after an internal investigation found that he backdated his own stock-option grants to increase his pay and will forfeit about $13 million in gains from the backdating, according to a media report Sunday. KB Home said Karatz would be succeeded as CEO by Jeffrey T. Mezger, the company's chief operating officer, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition. See Wall Street Journal story (Subscription required). KB Home also said it has created the new post of non-executive chairman and will conduct a search for the position, The Journal reported. KB Home disclosed in August it was conducting an internal probe of its options grants, after being contacted by The Wall Street Journal about an unusual pattern of well-timed grants. The company said it hasn't negotiated any terms of departure with Karatz other than the agreement to repay profits from backdating, The Journal said. To correct its accounting for the backdating, KB Home said it expected to take charges of no more than $50 million, according to The Journal. Also leaving the Los Angeles-based residential construction company are Richard B. Hirst, the executive vice president and chief legal officer, and Gary A. Ray, the head of human resources, The Journal said.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
For your information.
FYI
It's happening in many other companies:
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/business/98339,5_3_WA16_UNITEDHEALTHCEO_S1.article
William McGuire CEO United Healthcare
Annual salary $219 million
$1.8 billion (that's _B_illion) in backdated options.
United Healthcare's stock took a hit after it was announced the SEC would probe.
United Healthcare, what a joke, earning profits by denying/delaying coverage. Higher earnings/profits usually translate to higher stock price and huge leverage on options. There you go.
Lots of corruption on Wall Street, that's nothing new but it has grown in the last three years under Bush and Pubbie Congress. What did they do about it? Not a whole lot.
Pfizer had their number one rainmaking product go generic. Before product used to cost $120 per month, but generic can sell for $15. So Pfizer bribes ..er .. 'partners' with generic companies to sell the generic. Result: Cost of product is now $90 a month, wow!
Where were Pubbies on this? Smoking cigars and joking about fat Ted.
The list goes on and on. And you're hearing it from a hardcore Reaganite conservative. Screw the GOP and the thousands I gave them over so many years.
I have no stock position in KB Homes, nor for that matter in any of the homebuilders, but with their recent share price declines, I've been keeping them on my radar screen.
If the market overreacts, and sends KBH down sharply at tomorrow's open, I might be tempted to buy, playing for a -- ahem -- dead Karatz bounce.
this is rampant.
and yet many freepers want to repeal Sarbanes-Oxley.
I'm always interested in hearing people's ideas for how to minimize the crap that goes on. I'm all for a level playing field.
It is much deeper and more serious than Americans could ever imagine:
http://www.businessjive.com/nss/darkside.html
http://www.cfrn.net/investigates/
Well it certainly didn't keep THIS from happening. My s-i-l works for a large bank in MS, and she HATES having to do the Sarbannes Oxley paperwork. She considers it a waste of otherwise productive worktime.
"I might be tempted to buy, playing for a -- ahem -- dead Karatz bounce."
-- --
Whewwww, What a groaner!
Thank you. Thankyouverymuch. I'm here all week. Try the veal, and remember to tip your waitress.
we have laws against all kind of crimes, that doesn't guarantee those crimes won't occur - so should we repeal them?
there is a pervasive attitude in this country - "if it makes money, it must be OK". we see it in cases like this, all the way down the scale to the small business owner who feels he has a "right" to hire illegals to lower his costs and raise his profits, no matter what the costs to others or the society as a whole.
So, the CEO stole, got caught and all he has to do is give it back??? Wonder if a bank teller plays by the same rules....
But I'm getting a sense of what is really happening out there. KB homes is just one player. There are major scandals brewing in banks and other corporation. European banks are hiding billions in pension obligations. In the U.S., these obligation would have to be disclosed to stockholders. UK stock markets may be rattled by this news early tomorrow. Bernanke said a few days ago that M3 was an unstable means of forecasting currency demands. I wonder what the truth really is. Really. Could it be that with the housing boom and refinancing activity, the lending float is too volatile to measure? Could M3 really be more properly described M4 or M5 today? Oh, well . . . Not for me to worry, anyway. But Q3 of 2007 will be very interesting.
ccg... BULLETIN... BULLETIN... BULLETIN...
Hay! That was two thirds of a PUN... PU!!!
Ha ha ha. Good one. Don't buy even with a major drop right now -- not a wise decision.
I'm sure lots of players are. Only for trusted friends. Many want to find out in order to crush the idea. Ideas can't be crushed once enough people have the idea. The problem right now is too many people have the WRONG idea of how to do things. We're headed to ruin because of those ideas. Can't get people to change their minds until they "hit the rocks" on the bottom.
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