VeriSign CFO quits; options costs seen at $160 million

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - VeriSign Inc. (VRSN.O), an Internet security company, said on Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Dana Evan resigned and the company restated financial reports to account for $160.3 million in stock-based compensation.

Evan resigned July 10 and is being succeeded by Bert Clement, a former senior vice president for finance and company controller.

The company said it had filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission its 2006 annual report and overdue reports for the second and third quarters of 2006 that include financial information restated as a result of a review into VeriSign's stock-option granting practices.

VeriSign's review led to adjustments to its consolidated financial statements for 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002.

The Mountain View, California-based company in May replaced its then-Chief Executive Officer Stratton Sclavos with William Roper, a board member. VeriSign in January had said the options review had found no intentional wrongdoing by current senior management, including Sclavos.

VeriSign is among more than 170 U.S. companies that have launched internal audits or are being investigated by authorities over past option-granting practices that may have resulted in instant gains for employees.

VeriSign said in November it would need to restate past financial statements to reflect stock-based compensation expenses related to option grants. At the time, the company estimated that the stock-based compensation charge for 2002 to 2005 would not exceed $250 million.

The options grants had incorrect measurement dates, lacked required documentation or had initial grant dates and prices that were "substantially modified," VeriSign said.

(Reporting by Philipp Gollner in San Francisco and Deepti Chaudhary in Bangalore)