Embattled CEO To Step Down At UnitedHealth - WSJ.com
William McGuire's company is rich beyond the dreams of avarice by limiting or denying needed medical care to kids like mine. Dr. McGuire is rich beyond the dreams of avarice because he allegedly backdated his stock options illegally.
At the end of last year, Dr. McGuire's cache of unexercised options was valued at $1.78 billion, a sum far greater than any other U.S. corporate chieftain. Yesterday, UnitedHealth said he agreed to have all of the options issued to him from 1994 through 2002 repriced, likely cutting tens of millions in dollars from their value. But the company left open other financial arrangements with Dr. McGuire, and the exact terms of his departure are likely to be the subject of intense negotiations.
McGuire is under investigation by the S.E.C. , federal prosecutors in New York, and the Minnesota attorney general. Somehow, however, I am skeptical that Dr. McGuire will ever do more than a few months at a federal country club, after which he will be free to enjoy his ill gotten millions.