Buffett sounds off on Wall Street scandals In a memo, the Oracle of Omaha warns Berkshire Hathaway's top managers to resist pressure, newspaper reports. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As corporate scandals continue to mount on Wall Street, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett has a message for the company's top managers: Don't give in to peer pressure. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Buffett - known as the "Oracle of Omaha" - tackled the growing concerns over options backdating among companies in recent years as well as Hewlett-Packard's (Charts) leak probe in a memo to his top managers, dated Sept. 27.
Buffett, who is not shy of speaking his mind when it comes to corporate governance issues, said many of the people involved in the options backdating scandal likely engaged in the practice because they saw others on Wall Street backdating options. Backdating involves adjusting dates on options grants to ensure great profits for executives. While the practice isn't necessarily illegal, it can violate tax and securities laws if not disclosed properly. More than 100 companies so far have been ensnared in the growing options backdating scandal, while Comverse Technology (Charts) and Brocade Communications (Charts) received criminal indictments. According to the Journal, Buffett wrote in this memo, "Let's start with what is legal, but always go on to what we would feel comfortable about being printed on the front page of our local paper, and never proceed forward simply on the basis of the fact that other people are doing it." Debbie Bosanek, assistant to Buffett, told the Journal that the chairman provides his managers with "reminders" every couple of years as the company continues to grow and bring on new managers. And Buffett wrote in the memo that the company will jump on anything that has the "slightest odor of impropriety." |
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