BACKDATED STOCK OPTIONS
 

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP Now Investigating Stock Options Backdating Practices By Mercury Interactive

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP is currently investigating stock options backdating practices at over 100 companies, including Mercury Interactive.

Regarding Mercury Interactive, as reported in The Wall Street Journal, "Mercury Interactive disclosed that on May 15, a special board committee determined that the company's former CEO, who left in November 2005, "should be treated as having been terminated for cause." The committee concluded there was a "material breach" of fiduciary obligations, based on "actions and omissions in connection with option grants, option exercises and loans to him." Mercury had previously acknowledged "misdating" options, and has had its stock delisted by the Nasdaq Stock Market and has said it will have to restate financial results. On July 3, 2006, Mercury said that the SEC staff told Mercury that it may recommend that the SEC begin civil enforcement proceedings against three Mercury directors alleging the directors knew or should have known about the manipulation of option grant dates. On July 25, Hewlett-Packard said it will pay $4.5 billion to buy Mercury Interactive, despite the company's expectations to "continue to incur significant expense" to deal with options problems.  On May 31, 2007, Mercury, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in November 2006, settled the SEC's charges without admitting or denying them. It will pay a $28 million penalty."

If you are a current stockholder in Mercury Interactive and would like to learn about your legal rights in seeking to remedy improper options backdating at the company, please click here or call 800-287-8119 to contact our paralegal, Sophie Horowitz.  Our initial consultation and case assessment will be done at no charge or obligation to you.

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP is a leading force in bringing lawsuits on behalf of shareholders who own stock in corporations implicated in the rampant and ongoing stock options backdating scandal.  Led by attorneys Edward F. Haber and Michelle H. Blauner, our firm has already filed numerous cases, in both state and federal courts, concerning the improper backdating of stock options granted to officers, directors, and executives who appear to have used backdated stock options to create for themselves tens, or even hundreds, of millions of dollars in profit and unrealized gain at the direct expense of their corporations.

To learn more about our efforts targeting unlawful corporate stock options practices at corporations nationwide, please click here to view our main stock options backdating webpage, which contains detailed explanations of stock options, option backdating, and why option backdating can be illegal.  Also featured are complaints filed by our firm in other stock options backdating cases, as well as a full list of all the corporations we are currently investigating.