BlackBerry maker's chairman resigns amid stock option probe
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Research in Motion's chairman announced Monday he has resigned after a stock option probe found irregularities that will force the BlackBerry maker to restate its financial statements from 2004 to 2007.
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Apple Computer Inc. said on Wednesday an internal investigation found irregularities with its past stock option grants prompting the immediate resignation of a former chief financial officer from the board of directors.
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Quest Software Inc.  said on  Friday that its senior vice president of corporate development  resigned after he declined to be interviewed by the special  committee investigating the company's stock options dating  practices.
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Affiliated Computer Services Inc.  on Monday said its chief executive and chief financial officer had resigned, as it reported the results of an internal investigation into its stock option practices.
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The chairman of Hewlett-Packard is stepping down amid controversy over a probe into leaks at the firm.
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The Democratic speaker of the Massachusetts House said Monday he will resign to head a biotechnology trade group as a federal investigation continues into his role in drawing up the state's redistricting map.
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Daniel E. Troy, chief counsel for the Food and Drug Administration, resigned Tuesday with plans to return to the private sector.
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Jim Balsillie, the co-chief executive  of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd.,   has stepped down as chairman on Monday as the company announced  a $250-million earnings restatement relating to mistakes in how  it granted stock options in the past.
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Motorola Inc. MOT.N on Wednesday said  its No. 2 officer, who had been passed over for the chief  executive post, will resign at the end of January to seek a top  spot with another company.
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Jim Balsillie, the co-chief executive and chairman of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., stepped down as chairman as the company announced a $250 million earnings restatement relating to mistakes in how it granted stock options.
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By The Orange County Register, Calif.  Feb. 17--A federal investigation into stock options issued by Broadcom  Corp. has driven a wedge between the Irvine semiconductor company and its  chairman, Henry Samueli.
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MONTREAL  - Media tycoon Conrad Black resigned as chairman and chief executive of Hollinger Inc. the Canadian holding company for the media empire he built.
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The boss of Australian packaging company Amcor quits his post amid a growing scandal over allegations of price-fixing.
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MONTREAL: Media tycoon Conrad Black resigned as chairman and CEO of Hollinger, the Canadian holding company for the media empire he built, a company statement said.
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Marsh & McLennan Cos. MMC.N said on  Monday Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Greenberg resigned,  11 days after New York's attorney general accused the world's  biggest insurance broker of rigging insurance prices.
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TORONTO - Lord Black of Crossharbour will step down as chairman and chief executive of Hollinger Inc. &quot;in a matter of days,&quot; his lawyer said yesterday after a hearing in Ontario court into the matter.
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(InfoWorld) - Research in MotionÂ (RIM) will search for a new chairman of its board after CEO Jim Balsillie stepped down from the job Monday, taking blame for his role in a stock-option scam that will cost the company $250 million in restated earnings. RIM, which makes the BlackBerry smartphone, will restate its annual earnings statements for fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2006, and its statement for the first quarter of 2007. The changes could also affect its second and third quarter statements for 2007, which areÂ not yet filed, since RIM's internal audit is not complete. Balsillie will keep his other titles as co-CEO and a member of the board, but he and other top managers will be forced to pay back the profits they made by hand picking the most profitable dates for buying their stock options instead of receiving them the same date they were awarded, the company said. Employees can inflate their profits by claiming they received stock options on a day when the market was low, then selling them when the market rises again. Many technology companies have restated earnings caused by that practice in recent months, includingÂ Apple,Â Broadcom,Â McAfee, andÂ Monster Worldwide, as well asÂ Pixar, the computer animation film studio. Hoping to avoid lawsuits and regulatory censure, RIM began an internal investigation of stock option granting and accounting in August 2006, and predicted one month later that the damage would be between $25 million and $45 million. The company now says the true amount will be nearly 10 times that estimate. RIM also says it is cooperating with accounting investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Ontario Securities Commission and a shareholder lawsuit filed in Canada's Ontario Superior Court of Justice. RIM's investigation covered more than 3,200 grant packages made between December 1996 and August 2006. So far, the review committee has found incorrect accounting for all options granted before Feb. 27, 2002, and in 63 percent of the grants made since then. The recent batch includes 321 grants for a total of 4.6 million shares. Balsillie resigned as chairman because the review showed that he had personally made or approved all grants made since RIM went public in 1997, except for those to himself and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. RIM Chief Financial Officer Dennis Kavelman also helped to administer the awards. Balsillie told an internal review committee that he used the grants to attract skilled employees to the company in a competitive industry, and he made them so informally because of the RIM's rapid growth at that time, according to a company statement released Monday about the review. Balsillie and Kavelman also told the committee "they had a general understanding" that options could be granted at any chosen date within the fiscal reporting period. "Their understanding was incorrect," the committee said in its report. "The Special Committee determined that the company failed to maintain adequate internal and accounting controls with respect to the issuance of options in compliance with the company's stock option plan ... the grant process was characterized by informality and a lack of definitive documentation, and lacked safeguards to ensure compliance with applicable accounting, regulatory and disclosure rules." In other fallout from the investigation, Kavelman will step down as CFO, taking a new job as chief operating officer for administration and operations. Balsillie and Lazaridis will pay the company $5 million each to defray the cost of the investigation, and RIM accepted the resignations of Kendall Cork and Doug Wright, two members of the board's compensation committee. Finally, RIM promised to establish an oversight committee, charged with examining executive compensation, insider trading and hiring practices. Â