Also interesting to know is that these transactions generally result in these employees having to pay income taxes on the transaction , and further they will be taxed when they ever sell the shares at a higher price .
( In Belgium the system is that we already pay taxes when we receive the options , even when we never exercise the options so we run a risk of paying taxes even if we never make a profit. However if we exercise and sell the shares later at a higher price we do not pay capital taxes which is of course very interesting)