Take-Two former execs plead guilty in options case

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Back dating Option-Grants; A Microsoft Innovation

Lets review. Microsoft's accounting firm encouraged other clients to implement back-dating option grants. The technique was a Microsoft innovation - unknown to the IT industry prior to then.

To be fair, the tech firms that had to compete for talent against Microsoft, kind of had to offer the same. This certainly not moral but possibly-viewed-as-legal-at-the-time innovation was being demanded by talented engineers and talented managers who had previously interviewed at Microsoft.

Taking something that might be legal but was always immoral is the reason slavery existed in the USA for so long. If one corporation is allowed to behave immorally, others that compete will follow because not doing so hinders their ability to stay in business.

The other reason slavery existed so long was that it was such an icky moral issue that political parties rewarded those who avoided talking about the issue with patronage - most often government jobs, when their party took charge. The same has been true in the IT industry over this back-dating issue, I am certain. What goes on behind closed doors remains behind closed doors is a business philosophy reflected in the logo of the now defunct Arther Andersen. Unfortunately, owing to a statute of limitations, it is unlikely that the Microsoft management innovators of back-dating stock options will ever be punished. We can at lease remove them from our industry. The culture of silence is a culture of mobsters and the criminally minded. Think how hard it would have been for priests to molest if children had not been taught this culture from an early age.

Posted by: mighetto   Posted on: 07/23/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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