Press Release Body = Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Monster Worldwide Inc., owner of the most-used jobs Web site, said co-founder Andrew McKelvey quit as chairman emeritus after he refused to cooperate with a special committee probing the company\'s options-granting practices.
McKelvey, 72, also resigned from the board, New York-based Monster said today in a statement. He declined to attend a meeting scheduled for today and wouldn\'t guarantee to appear later, his lawyer Steven Reich said in a letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
McKelvey, who founded Monster\'s predecessor in 1967, quit as chief executive officer three weeks ago, saying he didn\'t have time to take part in the probe and manage the company. Reich wrote in the letter that during a July meeting with the committee, McKelvey said he didn\'t understand that manipulating the dates on options grants was improper.
``There\'s an options issue from when he was with the company, and some of it falls on his shoulders,\'\' said Pacific Crest Securities analyst Steve Weinstein, who rates the shares ``sector perform\'\' and said he doesn\'t own them. ``There\'s talented management in place, and hopefully they can move on unencumbered by the options issue.\'\'
Monster is among more than 140 companies conducting internal investigations or submitting to federal probes into whether they inflated the value of options by dating them when the stock price was at its lowest. The inquiries have led to the ousters of CEOs including Comverse Technology Inc.\'s Jacob ``Kobi\'\' Alexander and William McGuire of UnitedHealth Group Inc.
The shares rose 8 cents to $40.37 at 12:45 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They had fallen 1.3 percent this year before today.
McKelvey ``felt poorly, was jet-lagged and came in without counsel\'\' at the July meeting, leading him to misunderstand questions about whether the company backdated options, Reich said in the letter dated yesterday.
Reich said in his letter that McKelvey\'s lawyers need time to investigate options accounting that took place over many years.
``We do not have a firm grip on the facts of the case,\'\' he said.
McKelvey founded Monster\'s predecessor Telephone Marketing Programs, which focused on phone-directory advertising, according to Monster\'s Web site. Telephone Marketing later became TMP Worldwide Inc., and bought Monster Board, founded by Jeff Taylor, in 1994.
McKelvey stepped down as CEO on Oct. 9, and was replaced by William Pastore. He owns about 5.8 percent of Monster\'s total stock and controls about 32 percent of the shareholder votes through his ownership of the Class B shares.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ron Day in New York at rday1@bloomberg.net .
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