Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MNTA)

[jbog]

Yes, I realize that they are expensed, but as a company grows they become poison.

Here's an example. Amgen in 2000 had 1.078 million fully diluted shares outstanding. Over the next decade they spent well in excess of $15 billion dollars to repurchase its stock on the open market. At the end of 2009, (10 years later) Amgen had 1.021 million shares outstanding.

So here we have Amgen spending over $15 billion dollars of retained earnings (after tax money) to purchase shares yet their share count went down a measly 57,000 shares.

If Amgen would have given their employees cash the cost to amgen would have been at a 35% reduction (tax deductable expense) rather than paying from retained earnings. Why did Amgen do it this way, probably because of the effect of $15 billion to their yearly income.