TOP NEWS

Western Digital Sees Profit, Initiates Stock Option Grant Review

Lake Forest-based Western Digital, a manufacturer of disk drive and other storage products, announced today that it has formed a special committee of its board of directors to review its stock option grants, on the heels of its earnings announcement. Western Digital reported net income of $119.9M in its fiscal fourth quarter, up from $41.2M a year earlier. According to Western Digital, the firm initiated the voluntary review of its grants, and has retained independent counsel to review grants from 1998 to the present. Western Digital said that although the committee has not completed its review, it has made a preliminary determination that measurement dates for accounting purposes may differ from recorded dates used for certain grants, from fiscal year 1999 to fiscal year 2003. The stock options announcement by WD is the latest to hit a electronics firm in a widespread, industry-wide investigation into back-dating of stock options by the SEC.