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To: Bill Harmond who wrote (145051)	8/8/2002 1:07:39 PM
From: Suresh	Respond to of 164684

Options are just another way to rob the current passive investor of their share in the company. I would agree that they are true measures of performance for the employees if the options are not repriced or more options are granted to substitute the already underwater option of employees. As an investor/owner of the company I totally oppose the way the option games are played at present. Just as a protest I sold INTC and CSCO. There are lot of other places where my money can grow.. As an employee, I think I need to be rewarded based on my work rather than the market conditions. Market and employees will probably decide the fate of many tech companies. If their stocks keep going down (which it will if investors start protesting by taking the money out), I wouldn't be surprised to see key talent (that companies can't afford to loose) demanding a lot more than options. As I see VC's have started to protect their interests against the interests of employees... and so will the investing public in future. -Suresh

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (145051)	8/12/2002 9:27:28 PM
From: craig crawford	Respond to of 164684

>> I just don't have my arms around the options issue yet. << well maybe you could take me off ignore long enough to get this the second time around, since you obviously didn't take heed over a year and a half ago when i wrote the following: "There's a dirty little secret on Wall St. and it's called option compensation. Factor in options as an expense and a lot of high tech companies don't truly have squat for earnings." "Tech companies in this bull market use every trick in the book to hoodwink the public into thinking they are great cash generating machines. Well most of the cash they generate is from writing puts on their own stock, making equity investments in other tech companies, jiggering the books so they don't have to use cash to pay their employees, and fudging the books when they make acquisitions. Just look at the balance sheets of some of the large tech companies. They are tiny fractions of the market caps. There isn't much tangible value there." "This is why Buffett doesn't invest in tech companies. Not because he is too old or stupid to take the time to figure them out. He knows them better than everyone on this thread! He knows the earnings aren't really there! When the Nasdaq is a fraction of the level it is today and history looks back on this mania for answers as to why it got so out of control, it will all come down to accounting gimmicks and employee stock options as payment in lieu of cash As HJ would say, trust me on that. http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=15200664