Top Option Grants, Stock Awards for September
E very month, Compliance Week pub-
lishes a list of the largest stock option
grants and restricted stock awards during
of $184.02. Sewell defected to Apple from
Intel, where he had been general counsel
and worked on legal affairs for the micro-
tinue to issue performance-based grants
of options or awards of restricted stock.
On Sept. 10, for example, Archer Dan-
the previous period. The data and analysis chip giant since 1995. iels Midland Co. granted restricted stock
are provided by compensation research units to 22 executives with the following
firm Equilar. Trends, Performance performance-related footnote:
The largest option award last month
went to Michael Jeffries, chairman and
CEO of clothing retailer Abercrombie
S eptember saw no grants of premium-
priced options, which typically had
been a fixture of the compensation scene
“Each performance share unit rep-
resents a contingent right to receive one
share of ADM common stock. The per-
and Fitch. On Sept. 22 he received a grant until the stock market collapse last year. formance share units vest on June 30, 2012,
of 1.04 million options with a strike price Two companies gave grants with short- but only to the extent such performance
of $33.53, implying a face value of nearly er vesting periods than those in the previ- share units are earned. Performance share
$35 million. Like most retailers, Aber- ous fiscal year; on Sept. 14, Oshkosh gave units are earned based on Archer-Dan-
crombie has been reporting unimpressive options to 13 executives with terms of iels-Midland’s total shareholder return
numbers as the recession takes its toll. seven years, and on Sept. 30, Multimedia as compared to the average of total share-
The largest restricted stock award last Games granted options to six executives holder return of four separate indices.”
month went to Bruce Sewell, the new with terms of seven years. (Ten years is the For more coverage of executive com-
general counsel at Apple. He received standard term, but shorter terms can lessen pensation and spreadsheets of past awards,
100,000 shares on Sept. 21 worth $18.4 the effect of stock-option expensing.) go to www.complianceweek.com and en-
million, based on a grant-date share price Equilar also noted that companies con- ter Print Reference Code: 110916. ■
Largest Option Grants, September 2009
Company Name Executive