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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: matt dillabough who wrote (19028)	5/22/2006 3:03:25 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Feds probe stock option grants at KLA-Tencor By Matt Andrejczak, MarketWatch Last Update: 2:58 PM ET May 22, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating the timing of executive stock option grants at KLA-Tencor Corp., the chip-equipment maker's chief financial officer, Jeff Hall, said Monday. In comments at the J.P. Morgan technology conference in San Francisco, Hall said U.S. attorneys on Monday requested data from KLA-Tencor about its option grants. The company has also formed an independent board panel to probe the company's stock option grants made over the past 10 years, he said. The CFO said the company has "always been honest and forthright with investors." The statement follwed an article in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, which reported that KLA-Tencor Chairman Ken Levy received 10 option grants from 1994 to 2001 ahead of run-ups in the company's stock price. News of the questionable grants sent KLA-Tencor shares tumbling. The stock fell 9% to $41.10 in mid-afternoon trading. San Jose, Calif.-based KLA-Tencor is the No. 2 U.S. provider of machines that produce chips used to power electronic devices. Its tools help test for defects during the chipmaking process. It is one of a number of tech companies under investigation by federal prosecutors or the Securities and Exchange Commission for the timing of stock option grants. See full story. Some of the others include Juniper Networks, Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., Altera Corp. , and CNet Networks. Also Monday, Trident Microsystems Inc., a maker of TV chips, said its audit committee is reviewing executive stock option grants. Trident Micro) was also mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article with KLA-Tencor. Trident Micro shares about 16% to $23.05 in midafternoon trading.