Read The Recorder‘s roundup of the stock-option backdating scandal. There won’t be a test later … but there might be a subpoena.
The stock immediately jumped, hitting $31.50 within two days, and it surpassed $41 less than a month later.
Later in 2000, Le Duy got a much larger grant � the option to purchase 60,000 shares � dated Oct. 18, and priced at $18.875. Leading up to that date, the company’s share price saw a steady decline. After bottoming out at $18.875, it immediately began rising, exceeding $30 on Oct. 26 before plummeting.
Le Duy never got a chance to profit from these two option grants, as the company eventually exchanged them for a lower-priced award in 2003.
The company did not exchange all of Le Duy’s options, though.
Suffering like the rest of the tech industry, CNET saw its share price fall from more than $10 in August 2001 to $3.20 on Oct. 2. On Oct. 8 � when Le Duy received 60,000 options � it was priced at $3.42.
It then began a steady increase, hitting $9 by the end of November. It is unclear whether Le Duy ever exercised all of these options.
A fourth grant, in 2003, also came at a quarterly low. After surpassing $5 in early June of that year, CNET’s share price hit $4.65 on June 24. On that day, Le Duy received the option to purchase 125,000 shares.
While the grant doesn’t appear to have been backdated � it was reported to the SEC within two days of being awarded � it came before the company announced favorable financial results on July 22. The stock began a steady rise, hitting $7.34 by the end of July.
“Sharon has always acted with integrity with regard to CNET’s stock options grant process and in all other regards,” she added. “Given that she was a senior officer for part of the time at issue, however, Sharon recognized that her resignation would best help the company move forward.”
A Boalt Hall graduate, Le Duy joined CNET in November 1999 after serving as senior counsel for AirTouch Communications. Before that, she worked as an associate for Latham & Watkins, according to the CNET Web site.
CNET’s attorney, Latham & Watkins’s Patrick Gibbs, referred questions about the reasons behind Le Duy’s resignation to CNET spokeswoman Sarah Cain. Cain declined to comment, saying that any information the company was ready to release was in Wednesday’s press release.
Le Duy’s departure Wednesday came along with news that the chief executive of computer security firm McAfee Inc., George Samenuk, the target of a federal stock-options accounting probe, also stepped down.
McAfee General Counsel Kent Roberts stepped down in May after an internal investigation revealed he had received an improper stock option grant. In August, Northern California federal prosecutors sent the company a grand jury subpoena.
Roberts’ attorney, Cooley Godward Kronish’s Stephen Neal, did not return a call seeking comment on the latest McAfee resignation.
