Stratex CEO's stock unshackled
WAECHTER SELLS 12,000 SHARES UNDER AGREEMENT
By Jack Davis
Mercury News
It took Thomas Waechter less than three months to get restrictions lifted on a grant of stock given to him when he was hired in May as chief executive officer of Stratex Networks.
Along with a $450,000 salary, a target annual bonus of $360,000, a stock option grant for 450,000 shares and a $1,200-a-month car allowance, he also got 85,096 shares of restricted stock.
According to Waechter's employment agreement signed May 18, removal of the restrictions on the stock grant would be based on the ``achievement of specific financial goals.'' Half of the shares would be his no matter what so long as he remained with the company until March 31, 2008.
On Aug. 11, Waechter sold 12,183 shares for $39,915, or $3.28 a share, to satisfy his tax obligation ``triggered by release of restricted stock'' under the 2007 fiscal year stock program, leaving him the owner of 72,913 shares.
On Aug. 2, Stratex -- which supplies wireless transmission products -- released results for its fiscal 2007 first quarter ended June 30, a month and a half after Waechter became CEO. Stratex reported net income of $1.8 million, or 2 cents a share, for the quarter, compared with a loss in the same period last year of $4.2 million, or 4 cents a share. Sales rose 21 percent to $66.2 million.
Last week, Stratex announced it would merge with the microwave communications unit of Harris in a deal that gives Harris a majority stake in the new company. Shares of Stratex rose 37 cents Tuesday, or 10 percent, to close at $4.04 on the Nasdaq following the deal's announcement. They closed Friday at $3.99. |
