Silicon Valley greed: The stock option scandal spreads

corporate greed

Over the past three weeks, a large scale stock option scandal has broken out in Silicon Valley and is affecting some of its largest companies — and threatening to taint the tech industry’s image at a time when it’s fighting for policy change in Washington. Mike Langberg has the story.

At least 21 Silicon Valley companies are coping with suspicions they rigged the timing of stock options to give executives or employees a head start to paper profits. Below is a list (click to enlarge) of companies under investigation (by SEC or U.S. Attorney) or facing shareholder lawsuits, etc. Twenty of the 21 companies rank among the 150 largest companies in Silicon Valley.

In some cases, it’s pretty clear companies went over the line. Too bad. It comes just after we’d said an Enron-like debacle is unlikely to occur here. This is no Enron, but it’s revealing of the widespread culture of greed that exists here. Message to outsiders: This is not a valley of mere good-natured geeks.

,,

Next Story: Sequoia invests $1.5 in slideshow start-up RockYou.. & other valley news
Previous Story: Riya supersizes plan: will become a "visual" search engine