Was the Granting of Backdated Options Stealth Compensation for Superior Relative Performance? Leng Ling Georgia State University James Owers* Georgia State University LinLin Ma Georgia State University This draft: January 13, 2008 JEL classification: G30; J33 Keywords: Corporate governance; Executive compensation; Option backdating; Relative performance evaluation * Corresponding author. Contact information: Department of Finance, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303-3083 Tel.: (404) 413-7320; fax: (404) 413-7312. Email address: jowers@gsu.edu