[PEN-L:28315] Re: Options spin....

[ravi <gadfly@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

joanna bujes wrote:
> As anger grows over CEO compensation/looting, beware of spin. For
> example, last week, WSJ ran a brief article on how the fall of the stock
> market upsets the culture of options. In the article, the writers noted,
> "Boosted by outsize grants in the top ranks, Microsoft employees
> averaged a whopping $416,353 in stock-based comepnsation in 2000."
>
> Now, I'm willing to bet most readers go through that sentence without
> giving much attention to the dependent clause and walk away with the
> idea that normal hi-tech employees "average" half a mill in stock options.

business week had an article late last year (iirc) which said: now
that the recession is over [ha!], we can look back at some numbers
and some of the findings might surprise you. for instance, did you
know that [business week calculates] 99% of all the financial
benefit of the increase in productivity went to "workers"? bet you
didnt know that. worse, corporations suffered as they were unable
to realize the productivity (the fruits of which had to be offered
for free to attract customers), and later when investor confidence
turned against them. investors in turn found a lower rate of
return than the previous decade (80s) [i presume once again because
the "workers" made out like bandits].

is a CEO a worker?

	--ravi