American Tower Corporation Announces Inquiry into Stock Option Practices.BOSTON -- American Tower Corporation Formed in 1995, American Tower Corporation is a publicly held company (NYSE: AMT) that is a leading owner and operator of wireless and broadcast communications sites in North America. Today American Tower owns and operates over 30,000 sites in the United States, Mexico and Brazil. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : AMT See vPro. ) today announced that its Board of Directors has created a special committee comprised of independent directors to conduct an internal review of the Company's historical stock option practices and related accounting. The special committee will be assisted by independent legal counsel and advisors. The Company initiated this review following the release of a third party research report regarding practices related to the timing and pricing of stock option grants. Depending on the outcome of this review, the Company may need to correct its historical determinations of non-cash stock-based compensation expense and, if such corrections are material, it could result in the need to restate the Company's financial statements. Although the impact to the Company's historical financial statements, if any, is not yet known, the Company does not expect the review to result in material changes to its historical revenues or non-option related operating expenses Operating expenses The amount paid for asset maintenance or the cost of doing business, excluding depreciation. Earnings are distributed after operating expenses are deducted. , nor would it have a material impact on the Company's cash flow from operations Cash flow from operations A firm's net cash inflow resulting directly from its regular operations (disregarding extraordinary items such as the sale of fixed assets or transaction costs associated with issuing securities), calculated as the sum of net income plus noncash expenses . The Company also announced that, subsequent to the formation of the special committee and the events described above, it received a letter of informal inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission requesting documents related to Company stock option grants and stock option practices. The Company intends to cooperate fully with the SEC in this matter. American Tower is the leading independent owner, operator and developer of broadcast and wireless communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. sites in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . American Tower owns and operates over 22,000 sites in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. Additionally, American Tower manages approximately 2,000 revenue producing rooftop and tower sites. For more information about American Tower, please visit www.americantower.com. This press release contains "forward-looking statements," including statements regarding the Company's review of its historical option practices. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in our forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: (1) the results of the special committee's review; (2) the extent of any necessary corrections to the Company's determinations of non-cash stock-based compensation expense; and (3) the impact on the Company's financial statements of any such corrections; as well as other risks, relevant factors and uncertainties contained in Item 1A of our Form 10-Q Form 10-Q See 10-Q. for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 under the caption "Risk Factors." We undertake no obligation to update the information contained in this press release to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances. |
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