I'm sure most people have heard about the backdated stock options scandle by now. Seems that several really large companies (Apple, United Health, etc.) issued stock options, and chose dates for the stock options that corresponded with annual low prices of their stocks.
This had two effects:
(a) Employees who received the options whose value had increased got an instant increase in pay, and
(b) The corporation got to value the stocks at the lower price rather than the current price when the stock option was actually granted.
Lest you think this is unusual, since then over 150 companies seem to have gotten embroiled in the same scandle.
My parents taught me better: They called it "lying." And it was wrong.
What were they thinking?
