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To: RetiredNow who wrote (64595)	9/15/2003 5:08:04 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 77400

Look what I got in my inbox today. They must have copied this from you! The Coming Job Boom The article argues that within two years a skilled labor shortage will begin as the first baby boomers start to reach retirement age, and by 2010, the country's labor shortage will become acute. As a wide swath of the workforce nears retirement, the size of the college-educated employee pool is on track to actually stagnate in the next few decades, rather than grow sharply as it had since the 1950s. biz.yahoo.com

To: RetiredNow who wrote (64595)	9/15/2003 5:13:54 PM
From: Boca_PETE	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 77400

mindmeld: re: ("they aren't marketable today, only because they haven't been structure to be marketable on a secondary market. Coca Cola started to do this, but then backed out.") Very interesting, but as of today no outstanding employee stock options are marketable - all such employee options are all non-transferable. I would think that the internal revenue code would drive the legality of whether or not employee stock options could be structured to be marketable in the future. My advice to companies who seek to do this would be GET AN IRS RULING on the specific issue related to the provision making options granted under their specific stock option plan marketable. It would be interesting to learn why Coca Cola backed off on their plans. P

To: RetiredNow who wrote (64595)	9/15/2003 5:14:34 PM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 77400

Hi Pete, they aren't marketable today, only because they haven't been structure to be marketable on a secondary market. Coca Cola started to do this, but then backed out. The bottom line is that there is no reason why they can't be sold by employees, even before they have been exercised. All they would need is for the company to structure the option in such a way as to make that possible and then contract with another firm willing to make a market in those options. Who would be stupid enough to buy a stock option that can't be exercised for 5 years and it depends on a third party to not quit her job once she sold the option? After all, the whole idea of giving her the option was to keep her for 5 years. As a shareholder, I vote for granting options to good employees in exchange for dilution of my shares with the expectation that the employee will be motivated to increase the value of my current shares enough to overcome the dilution. Why is this so hard for folks to understand? It is MY money that is given away by the company. (It should ONLY grant options on authorization of a shareholder vote which I believe was made a law awhile back.) There was a problem in the past when the companies were giving my money away without my voting on it. Kirk PS MSFT is not much of a growth company these days and options were worthless to motivate employees so they changed programs. Good PR for them to expense something they won't use AND it hurts their competitors.