UPDATE 1-Foundry gives $150,000 bonus to options-probe boss
(Adding company comment, recasts first paragraph)
By Jim Finkle
BOSTON, July 12 (Reuters) - Foundry Networks Inc. FDRY.O said on Thursday that its chief financial officer received a $150,000 bonus for his work supervising an audit of the company's historical stock options grant practices.
Last month the company released the results of the investigation, telling shareholders that it needed to record $102.5 million in expenses for stock-based compensation and other costs that it had failed to account for from 1999 to 2005.
On Thursday, Foundry Networks added another $317,500 to the tab, saying it had handed that much out in special cash bonuses to CFO Dan Fairfax and other employees who had worked on the options probe.
The company gave them the bonuses for taking on what was essentially a second full-time job for the 10 months that they spent overseeing the audit, said Foundry spokesman Brendan Lahiff.
When the board launched the probe it considered hiring an outside consulting firm to handle the work, an option that many other companies in similar situations had taken, Lahiff said.
Instead of spending several million dollars on consulting fees, the board ask its own employees to work with outside auditors and attorneys on the project, then rewarded them with several hundred thousand dollars in bonuses for their hard work, he said.
