Olney - 2:19 am on Feb 15, 2011 (gmt 0)

The VPs who approved the deal with the SEO company will likely be fired. They'll never get a job at a major company again. Their careers are ruined. Google will trace down all of the SEO company's clients and review them. If there are tricks, those too will lose ranking. When revenues fall, many of the staffers at the SEO company will be fired.

This sounds like a TV show. A brand like JC Penny most likely hired a larger Global SEO company. They loose & win clients all the time.

People who approved the SEO company may not even be in the same position as when the contracts were signed SEO is usually longterm.

SEO companys don't disclose their clients to Google.

But on the other hand how many companys reading this will be massively buying bad links for their competitors? What if NYT parent company owns stock in a JCP competitor & they knew their Christmas sales were affected?