CalPERS officials asked 25 companies to respond to questions about whether they backdated stock options for top executives. The $204.4 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, asked the companies to investigate media reports of stock option backdating and to publicly disclose in financial and proxy statements any new policies concerning grant dates.
"Stock option backdating potentially threatens the credibility, governance and performance of companies," Russell Read, CalPERS CIO, said in a press release. He supported continued SEC investigations of such practices.
Many firms receiving letters from CalPERS were technology companies, including McAfee Inc., Semtech Corp. and Sycamore Networks Inc.
