wow, so cisco gives ~5000 options per employee.
Cisco grants staff, CEO options
By Chris Kraeuter, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 6:05 PM ET Aug. 23, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- John Chambers, head of Cisco Systems, received 1.5 million stock options Monday as part of a company-wide grant totaling 162 million options, according to a regulatory filing.
All of the options were granted at the stock's closing price of $19.18 a share, Cisco (CSCO: news, chart, profile) said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange. Cisco has 6.93 billion shares outstanding.
Chambers will have the right to exercise his options after seven years as long as he remains president and CEO. A company spokeswoman said other employees wouldn't have to wait as long as Chambers to exercise their options.
Separately, Cisco also announced an agreement to acquire P-Cube, a privately held Internet protocol service provider, for $200 million. See full story.
Last week, Chambers sold $18.6 million worth of his company's stock and filed papers to sell as many as 17.6 million additional shares over the next four years under a fixed-trading plan.
Earlier this month, Chambers had his salary reinstated at $350,000 a year, the same level where it was suspended in April 2001. He reduced his salary to $1 a year until the company's performance improved. He received options during that period.
Chris Kraeuter is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco.
