Rite Aid Accounting Scandal

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Rite Aid Accounting Scandal Introduction and History of the company: Rite Aid is a drugstore chain in the United States and a Fortune 500 company headquartered in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, near Camp Hill. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third largest drugstore chain in the U.S. Rite Aid began in 1962 as a single store opened in Scranton, Pennsylvania called Thrif D Discount Center. After several years of growth, Rite Aid adopted its current name and debuted as a public company in 1968. Today, Rite Aid is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker RAD. Rite Aid reported total sales of USD $24.3 billion in fiscal year 2008. In 2008, its market capitalization dropped to under $500 million. As of 23 February 2012, the market capitalization of Rite Aid was about $1.4 billion. Alex Grass founded the Rite Aid chain in Scranton, Pennsylvania in September 1962. The first store was called Thrif D Discount Center, a health and beauty aids store, without a pharmacy. It was an offshoot of Rack Rite Distributors a subsidiary of his father-in law’s Lehrman & Sons which Alex Grass launched in 1958, that rented and stocked racks with health and beauty aids in grocery stores. In 1965 their 23rd store added a pharmacy and the company name was changed to Rite Aid. Through acquisitions and new stores, Rite Aid quickly expanded into 5 northeast states by 1965. The chain was officially named Rite Aid Corporation in 1968 and made its debut on the American Stock Exchange. It moved to the New York Stock Exchange in 1970. In 2011, Rite Aid was ranked #100 on Fortune 500 Largest U.S. Corporations The Scandal: The Securities and Exchange Commission filed accounting fraud charges against several former senior executives of Rite Aid Corp. in June, 2002. The U. S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

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