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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: hueyone who wrote (173551)	3/14/2003 1:44:57 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 186894

RE:"With a big transfer of wealth to management on the horizon, a shareholder backlash is gathering force. Institutional investors have declared war on runaway option grants and the outsize goodies they bestow on corporate insiders. "The trend is really bad," says Patrick McGurn, director of corporate programs at Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy-vote advisory firm. It comes when many money managers are bracing for a long period of investment returns well below the 18%-plus levels of the 1990s. Says Lisa Rapuano, a mutual-fund manager at Legg Mason Inc., "There is a smaller pie, and executives continue to ask for more of it. We have to work on making their share smaller." That's starting to happen. Investors are voting down a record 23.4% of options plans vs. 16.2% five years ago, according to the Investor Responsibility Research Center. Some companies are taking the hint: Jones Apparel Group, facing a shareholder rebellion, withdrew its plan in May before it came to a vote" No kidding...<G>

To: hueyone who wrote (173551)	3/14/2003 1:50:14 AM
From: Amy J	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Hi Hueyone, RE: "Handing out of stock options "like candy" is incorrect - the % total has reasonably been consistent throughout all the 90s to 2001. I believe you are mistaken." I've got an open mind (and this is said sincerely, with inquisitiveness) - do you have any information that would show Intel gave out more options as a % between 1990 to 2001? edit: In 1990, the companies the slow-moving companies didn't provide any stock to employees - but then some started to grant them later on during the boom when they weren't able to attract new-hires - that raises total. So, let's look at Intel, which is what we were discussing. Regards, Amy J

To: hueyone who wrote (173551)	3/14/2003 1:57:28 AM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 186894

the problem with articles like that is they are so one sided they don't even bother to present the alternative to issuing options. I know for a fact that many technology companies asked employees to take large (30% or more) pay cuts in exchange for options since the decline started, a lot of the increase in options grants can be attributed to that trend I would imagine. So you are looking at an increase in immediate profitability vs. a potential cost down the road. If I were offered the chance to exchange pay for options now, there would be no way I would take the bait because I don't think technology will recover intact from this onslaught. I wonder who took those options grants and if they really think they will ever see anything in the way of returns, especially for "200 of the largest companies" in the US. Sounds like a suckers bet to me.