Monster Worldwide fires lawyer in probe of backdated options

Monster Worldwide Inc., the parent of job search site Monster.com, said Wednesday that it terminated Myron Olesnyckyj, the company’s lead lawyer, as part of its investigation into past stock-option grant practices.

Olesnyckyj, the company’s general counsel, is the second high-ranking executive to leave the company over backdated stock options. Andrew J. McKelvey resigned his posts as chairman and chief executive Oct. 9 but at the time retained his seat on the board as chairman emeritus. He resigned fully Oct. 30, citing an unwillingness to sit for further questions over the company’s backdating practices in the past.

Monster spokesman Robert Jones said Wednesday that no other employees have been suspended.

Shares of Monster rose 8 cents to $45.02.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York has issued a subpoena to the company over options backdating, and a special committee of company directors has said it wants to complete its own investigation by the end of the year.

Olesnyckyj was suspended Sept. 19. He had held the titles of senior vice president, general counsel and secretary.

The company said Oct. 25 that it found pricing problems in a “substantial number” of its past option grants, and as a result it expected to restate its results from 1997 through 2005. Monster said it did not expect the restatements to affect its results for this year.

The company has delayed filing its earnings results for the second and third quarters. Jones said the company would file its second-quarter results Dec. 13. Third-quarter numbers would be issued “as soon as practicable,” according to a Nov. 7 statement from the company.

Backdating an option means retroactively setting the option’s strike price to a day when the stock traded cheaply. An option with a lower strike price is more valuable because it’s less expensive to exercise. The practice is not necessarily illegal, but must be disclosed to shareholders.

In a statement, the company said Olesnyckyj was terminated “for cause.”

Monster is one of more than 180 companies that is under scrutiny for potential backdating of stock options.