Home Depot Back-Dated Options Back to 1981

Home Depot’s (HD) internal review found unrecorded expenses of $200 million. Some of it going as far back as 1981.

All options granted since 2002 had an exercise price based on the market price of the company’s stock on that date, Home Depot said today.
Options granted from December 2000 through the end of 2001 had an exercise price based on the market price of the company’s stock on the date of a specific meeting or some other established criteria.
For annual option grants and certain quarterly grants from 1981 through November 2000, the company regularly reviewed closing prices for a given period and selected a date with a lower stock price, Home Depot said.
Backdating occurred “at all levels of the company” and involved managers who have since left, Home Depot said.

At least they were faithful to tradition.

Posted by on December 6th, 2006 at 8:13 pm


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