Cablevision Systems Corp. Tuesday morning said it would delay the release of its second-quarter results because it plans to restate all of its financials dating back to 1997 stemming from a review of its stock options practices.
The cable television giant added it had told the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York about the issues causing the restatement.
The company said it decided to undertake a voluntary review of its past options granting practices in light of published reports concerning the pricing and timing of stock options grants at numerous companies.
As a result of the review, the company said it determined that the date and exercise price assigned to a number of its stock option and stock appreciation rights (SAR) grants during the 1997-to-2002 period did not correspond to the actual grant date and the closing price of the company’s common stock on that day.
Cablevision stressed it has not fully determined the amount of the adjustments or the resulting tax and accounting impacts.
Meanwhile, Monday evening THQ Inc. announced it had received an informal inquiry from the SEC requesting certain documents and information relating to the company’s stock option grant practices dating back to January 1, 1996.
The video game software maker said it intends to cooperate fully with all matters related to the request.
The company said that prior to receiving notification of the informal inquiry, it was in the process of conducting a voluntary internal review of its option grant practices, citing “extensive news coverage and analyst reports” about the option practices of numerous companies across several different industries.