By Chad Bray Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- A federal judge has granted final approval to a $47.5 million settlement in a shareholder lawsuit over alleged improper stock-options backdating at Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW).
In an order dated Monday and made public Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff in Manhattan found the proposed settlement is "in all respects fair, reasonable and adequate."
The settlement will be funded by a $46.9 million payment by Monster and a $550,000 personal contribution from Monster Worldwide founder Andrew J. McKelvey, one of two individual defendants in the case, according to court documents. Myron F. Olesnyckyj, Monster's former general counsel, also is part of the settlement.
Monster previously announced it had reached a memorandum of understanding related to the proposed settlement in July, saying it expected its cost, net of insurance and a contribution from another defendant, to be about $25 million.
Lawyers for McKelvey and Olesnyckyj declined comment Tuesday. A Monster spokesman didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday.
In July, Judge Rakoff granted class-action certification and named the Middlesex County Retirement System as lead plaintiff in the case. He gave preliminary approval to the settlement in July.
Monster Worldwide is the parent company of online job-search Web site Monster.com.
In 2006, Monster Worldwide restated its results for 1997 through 2005 by a cumulative pretax amount of $339.5 million, to record additional noncash charges for option-related compensation expense.
McKelvey, Monster Worldwide's founder and former chief executive, resigned in October 2006, citing, in part, the demands of coping with a probe of the job-search company's stock-option practices.
In January, McKelvey entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Manhattan in which he admitted, along with others, to routinely selecting "prices for stock-options grants based on historical dates when Monster's stock price had closed at, or near, a low point, resulting in grants of in-the-money stock options" between 1997 through 2003.
McKelvey also admitted to signing and certifying public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that "reported false and misleading financial results and contained misleading descriptions of Monster's options granting process." He will avoid prosecution if he avoids further wrongdoing for a year.
Olesnyckyj, Monster's former general counsel, pleaded guilty last year to criminal charges in connection with the backdating and agreed to cooperate against McKelvey and other former Monster Worldwide officials.
In April, James J. Treacy, Monster Worldwide's former president and chief operating officer, was indicted on a charge of securities fraud and conspiracy. Treacy, who resigned from the company in 2002, has denied wrongdoing.
-By Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-227-2017; chad.bray@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=VNf1o8oJFnifzxvjBbgEew%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2008 17:07 ET (22:07 GMT)

Publié le 25 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones