Douglas Bergeron is CEO of VeriFone, a software and telecommunications development company in the United States. He previously served in a variety of executive management positions at SunGard Data Systems Inc., including President of SunGard Futures Systems and Group CEO of SunGard Brokerage Systems Group. He was also President of Gores Technology Group.

He was educated at York University in Toronto, Canada earning a B.A. in Computer Science and the University of Southern California earning a Master of Science degree.

 Other   

From: The New SEC: Is It An Improvement? By Patrick Coughlin September 21, 2009

In a recent settlement with VeriFone Holdings Inc., a large public company that provides electronic payment security and solutions, the new SEC asked for less than its predecessor had from UTStarcom. VeriFone had admitted falsifying earnings for three quarters in 2007. The restatement was so severe that it literally erased all of VeriFone's profits in some quarters and revealed huge losses. VeriFone's shareholders took the hit, suffering a $1.8 billion loss in value as the stock price declined more than 46 percent.

The facts in the SEC's complaint alone establish that CEO Douglas Bergeron and former CFO Barry Zwarenstein received internal reports disclosing 1Q07, 2Q07 and 3Q07 gross margins that were substantially less than the guidance they provided to investors; told VeriFone's supply chain controller, Paul Periolat, and others that the preliminary results were an "unmitigated disaster" and to "figure it out;" provided Periolat with analyses that laid out the relationship between reductions in costs of goods sold and the corresponding increase in the gross margin; knew Periolat made journal entries that increased gross margins by increasing inventory and reducing costs of goods sold; and knew that no one reviewed the journal entries to determine whether they were proper.

The SEC's complaint fails to mention substantial sales of VeriFone stock by Bergeron, Zwarenstein and other VeriFone insiders as they reported false and misleading financial results licensing its stock to trade at artificially inflated prices. Between Aug. 31, 2006 and Dec. 3, 2007, Bergeron sold more than two million shares at prices as high as $46 per share and received proceeds of $74.7 million. Moreover, Bergeron acquired the shares for just $0.033 per share. Zwarenstein sold 160,585 shares - 98 percent of his VeriFone stock - and received proceeds of $5.8 million. Zwarenstein acquired the shares he sold at an average price of about $4 per share. Moreover, in December 2006, the second month of 1Q07, Zwarenstein amended his 10b5-1 trading plan and increased his monthly sales from 4,000 to 14,000.

In VeriFone's settlement with the SEC, without admitting or denying the allegations above, VeriFone consented not to do it again. The controller, Paul Periolat, also agreed not to do it again and paid a $25,000 civil penalty. That's it. No recovery of the nearly two billion dollars in investor losses.

[edit] External links

• Biographical profile on Verifone
• Billionaire can't resist sports fan's ultimate fantasy

http://www.csgrr.com/csgrr-cgi-bin/mil?templ=news/articles/NewSEC

This article about a United States businessperson is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e