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To: XBrit who wrote (14203)	10/4/2002 12:30:27 AM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 57684

VRTS actually went up in AH on the EMC warning. I've been thinking about the capex hardware situation and I now believe we have already experienced the effects of this in software a few months ago. So no additional leg down for software just stay where we are - which is not much of a consolation but there it is. Lizzie

To: XBrit who wrote (14203)	10/4/2002 11:55:58 PM
From: Mark Fowler	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57684

Well, dub me a clown, but I rented a few VRTS shares at 11.75 in AH tonight<< Hmmm patients pays good luck to you! MBA lie costs Veritas CFO his job By Elise Ackerman Mercury News Veritas Software said its chief financial officer, Ken Lonchar, resigned Thursday after the company learned he had lied about receiving a degree from Stanford University. Lonchar's departure immediately raised investor concerns that there may be accounting problems at the Mountain View maker of storage software. Its shares plunged 19 percent to close at $11.73 Thursday. At least four analysts downgraded the stock to ratings of ``neutral'' or ``hold.'' ``It is a pretty unprecedented situation,'' said Joseph Beaulieu, an analyst at Morningstar, who is considering lowering his rating on the stock. ``Any time you have a CFO leave under a cloud, I think you have to take a closer look.'' Beaulieu said he does not personally own shares of Veritas, which is not a client of Morningstar. Gary Bloom, Veritas' chairman and chief executive, said Lonchar's ``unfortunate'' misstatement ``has no bearing on the accuracy of our financial results or the quality of our financial procedures and controls.'' In August, Bloom and Lonchar submitted sworn statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission attesting to the truthfulness of the company's financial reports. In a conference call with investors Thursday morning, Bloom said Lonchar, who has served as the company's CFO since 1997, inaccurately claimed to have received a master's of business administration degree from Stanford. In a statement put out by Veritas, Lonchar said he regretted the misstatement. ``Under the circumstances, I believe my resignation is in the best interests of both the company and myself,'' he said. Though the company's announcement only mentioned Lonchar's falsified MBA, there are also questions about his undergraduate degree. According to a biography posted on Veritas' Web site, Lonchar graduated from Arizona State University. However, university officials said Thursday that they do not have any record that Lonchar was a student there. A Veritas spokeswoman declined to comment on the Arizona State degree. Lonchar did not respond to messages left Thursday. A veteran CFO and certified public accountant, Lonchar, 44, joined Veritas in 1997, after Veritas acquired OpenVision Technologies, a maker of system-management software. Before working for OpenVision, Lonchar spent eight years as CFO of Microtec Research, an embedded software company. In 2001, CFO Magazine and Arthur Andersen awarded Lonchar a prestigious ``CFO Excellence Award,'' citing his credibility with investors. ``He always represented Veritas well,'' said Jonathan Rudy, an analyst at Standard & Poor's. Rudy said he believed Lonchar's falsified degree was an isolated incident. In a research note Thursday, analyst George Gilbert of Credit Suisse First Boston said there was ``longstanding tension between Lonchar, who typically gave a more positive outlook for the company, and the more tempered CEO Gary Bloom.'' Gilbert said he viewed Lonchar's departure as positive because of the ``widely held concerns about the working relationship between Lonchar and Bloom.'' Lonchar will be replaced on an acting basis by Jay A. Jones, chief administrative officer and another former OpenVision executive. Veritas said it would name a permanent CFO by the end of December. Bloom said the company had met its sales goals for the just-ended September quarter, booking $350 million to $370 million in new business. The company will formally announce the quarter's financial results Oct. 21. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------