CA Points Fraud Finger at Founder

It only took some 390 pages for software company CA (in the past known as Computer Associates) to accuse its founder and former board chair Charles B. Wang of running one of the biggest shell games in town. For over ten years, the company alleges, he was basically the chef de cuisine in a company where cooking the books was the course du jour. Wang is blaming Sanjay Kumar, whom he personally installed in the office of CEO. Now the company says that this has cost it $500 million in fines and the trust and goodwill of employees and shareholders.

I also remember the company developing the reputation of being an enormous bottom feeder when it came to acquisitions, to taking over product lines to squeeze the profits dry and not invest any additional money, and to creating a lot of bad will among customers - which could certainly lead to poor stock prices. The company's woes are a legacy of many bad choices, period, and that sort of seeding doesn't go away too easily.