Chapter 5. Shareholders versus CEOs: The CEOs Make It Big

 

“You had highly promotional CEOs saying things were great yet selling just massive amounts of stock. It’s virtually impossible to reconcile those two things.”[77] According to Harvey Pitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, stock options gave CEOs “perverse incentives to manage earnings, distort accounting, or emphasize short-term stock performance.”[78]

 
 --“The CEO Crime Wave” (CNBC, an item in a poll for viewers, September 20, 2002)

No matter how investors made out, CEOs profited enormously from the great bull market in stocks. For years banks and accountants knowingly joined CEOs, CFOs, and corporate boards of directors in undermining the fundamental principles ...

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