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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (46685)	2/12/1999
From: Mama Bear	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Michael, when I took my nephew and neice to the McDonald's for happy meals, I noticed a help wanted sign. McDonald's is offering an ESOP as one of the benefits.They were offering $5.50 an hour, so I don't believe they were looking for managers. The end is nigh. Barb

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (46685)	2/12/1999 1:37:00 AM
From: Richard Gibbons	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

Yeah, I'm not a CEO. (My 1800-person software company has a 4 level-hierarchy. I'm in R&D, on the second-to-bottom level.) I think your options argument makes a lot of sense. Do you see Microsoft's options strategy as having the same flaws? Many of my friends (ie. recent computer science graduates) decided to go to MSFT for the 4 or 5 years that it takes for their options to vest, simply based on the belief that their options would be worth half a million or more when they finally vested. MSFT has gotten a lot of smart people to work like dogs for little pay using this strategy. I don't think this strategy will work now with MSFT. Plus your premise that MSFT could be in trouble when their stock stops increasing seems reasonable. However, do you believe in general that giving long-vesting options to pion-level people in software companies is a good idea for shareholders? Richard