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The options backdating scandal has taken an interesting twist.  Companies are dolling out “special bonuses”, aka corporate welfare, to executives and directors that are being affected by repricing of misdated stock options.  This is outrageous! Talk about corporate shenanigans!

The following is a list of a couple of companies that are considering “cash bonuses” for executives and directors affected by repricing:

• Fossil, Inc. – has said 7 officers could be eligible for a “cash bonus”.
• Broaddcom Corp. – said a top sales executive may be eligible for a “special” payment of $525,870 next January.

The following is a list of companies that have admitted to options problems that are taking a more stringent approach to repricing:

• Actel Corp. – directors and executive officers will have wrongly dated options repriced with no reimbursement.
• Boston Communications Group Inc. – reported that 13 current and former directors and executives are surrendering a total of more than 410,000 wrongly dated options, without compensation.

Cheers!