<<Companies Join in Fight to Preserve Stock Options, WSJ Reports
By Jennifer Itzenson
Washington, March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Lobbyists from large companies across the U.S. are working together to campaign against legislation that will restrict stock options, the Wall Street Journal said.
The companies' representatives recently met at the offices of Oracle Corp., and attendees included Citigroup Inc. and an Oracle competitor, Microsoft Corp., the paper said. The companies say options, which give the right to buy a stock in the future at today's price, benefit employees by giving them a stake in their companies' success and in turn increase profits for all shareholders, the paper said.
Those who oppose options, including lawmakers from both political parties, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, many institutional investors and global accountants, say that options lead to a culture of greed and encourage executives to manipulate accounting rules, the paper said.
Since accounting rules don't require treating options as a cost, they can help companies make their financial statements look better, the paper said. Business lobbyists won the last challenge to options in 1994, though it may be tougher to fight off reforms now with national attention focused on Enron Corp. executives who cashed in millions of dollars in options as the company collapsed, the paper said.
(WSJ 03-26 A1) (For the Wall Street Journal Web site, see {WWSJ }.)>> |
