re:You can pay someone any amount of salary, and still they can be lured away by a competitor willing to pay more.
Perhaps, but I'm not sure if the research done on options to "hold" people shows this to be the actually case. It may be a misperception.
My gripe is that there seems to be an imbalance in terms of recent Intel buy-back versus dividend increase. Obviously, most long-term investors would prefer a dividend increase as the benefit is direct. I have yet to see any evidence that Intel's buyback has increased shareprice. Instead, we're seeing large groups of vested employees selling at certain price points. Some of the 30% haircut at the beginning of the year was due to factors other than market or company fundamental factors. That is frustrating to Intel shareholders, and as Prof. has pointed out, could be a reason why instituions are reluctant to own this stock.