Craig Barrett Speaks Out Against Expensing Options

from the good-for-him dept

Intel's Craig Barrett is taking a stand against the expensing of stock options. A year ago, he came up with a fairly reasonable, but mostly ignored compromise solution that would have companies expense only the options of their top execs. Now, he's saying that people pushing for the required expensing of stock options are being disingenuous with their arguments. They don't like excessive executive compensation and are taking it out on stock options - even though that plan might hurt rank and file workers more. The bigger problem, though, is that stock option values are so fluid that expensing them could throw financial statements out of whack. In fact, Barrett says if forced to expense options he might not certify Intel's financial statements since he wouldn't be able to truthfully say that he believed they were "accurate". So, his choice would be to either refuse to certify the returns - or to violate the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Personally, I have mixed opinions on this issue, but I'm guessing people are making a bigger deal of it than is necessary. Analysts and investors will adjust to any changes. None of this actually impacts how a company does business - though, it might impact how they incentivize employees.

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