TOP NEWS

j2 Looks Into Stock Option Grants, Delays 10-Q Filing

Los Angeles-based j2 Global Communications said Friday that it has established a special committee of outside directors, as it launched an internal review of its option grant process. j2 joins a growing list of Southern California high tech companies who are either looking at their own stock options grants, or who are under investigation by the SEC for options backdating. j2 said that the special committee would perform an independent investigation. As a result, j2 said that it would delay the filing of its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30th. j2 said that so far, it believes that any additional compensation expense would not exceed $2.1M for the period starting from its July 1999 IPO through December 31, 2005. The company also said that it may need to restate its financial statements to record non-cash charges for compensation relating to past stock options grants. j2 Global Communications is a provider of online FAX and other telecommunications services.