Stock options (BenefitsLink.com)Headlines re Stock options, gathered by BenefitsLink.comCan Your Long-Term Incentive Plan Become More Performance Based Again (PDF)- (Found July 5, 2008 ) Excerpt: "A top responsibility for Compensation Committees is to ensure a strong linkage between executive compensation and company performance. Long-Term Incentive Plans (LTIPs) typically provide the largest component of senior executives' compensation, most often through one or more of three equity-based types: Stock Options, Restricted Stock, and Performance Shares. This InsightOut assesses the relative strength of the linkages between company performance and each type of equity when...http://www.buckconsultants.com/buckconsultants/Portals/0/Documents/PUBLICATIONS/White_Pape... Guidance Overview The AMT and Stock Options: Taxpayers Continue to Lose in the Appellate Courts- (Found July 5, 2008 ) Excerpt: "This 'substantially nonvested' exception to current taxation has been the subject of a substantial amount of litigation fueled by taxpayers' attempts to postpone the date of taxation so that subsequent stock losses can be recognized. One of the arguments posited by taxpayers in recent cases is that stock acquired through the exercise of stock options is 'substantially nonvested' if the company's insider trading policy prevents employees from trading the company's stock during...http://www.bnatax.com/tm/insights_starczewski5.htm Guidance Overview Additional Guidance Regarding Minnesota Taxation of Deferred Compensation, Severance and Stock Option Income Paid to Nonresidents- (Found July 5, 2008 ) Excerpt: "The Minnesota Department of Revenue is preparing guidance addressing withholding and reporting issues raised by the new law taxing some deferred compensation, severance and stock option income paid to nonresidents. The law now taxes income earned in Minnesota but received when the taxpayer is not a state resident. The new law requires employers to withhold tax from such payments beginning April 1, 2008." (Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP)http://view.exacttarget.com/?j=fe5715747c6d05797d10&m=ff2f1771716c&ls=fdf812717465... Update on Stock Option Backdating- (Found July 5, 2008 ) Excerpt: "In case you wondered how the backdating matters have been resolved, this week brings news that: The SEC settled with Broadcom Corporation for $12 million civil penalty, in addition to a permanent injunction. . . . A grand jury in Northern California indicted the former Mercury CFO for tax fraud in connection with her role in the Mercury's backdating scheme. Still no word on whether the SEC or prosecutors will act against any of the law firms that seemed to have facilitated the...http://www.winston.com/index.cfm?contentID=19&itemID=159&itemType=25&postid=50 UnitedHealth Settles Class Action Lawsuit- (Found July 5, 2008 ) Excerpt: "The lawsuit filed by the California Public Employees' Retirement System in 2006, alleged that UnitedHealth's CEO and COO collectively earned over $500 million by exercising the backdated options." (RTTNews)http://www.rttnews.com/Content/TopStories.aspx?Node=B1&Id=645209&Category=Top%20St... New edition of Model Equity Compensation Plans- (Found July 5, 2008 ) The NCEO presents excerpts from the new edition of its book Model Equity Compensation Plans, which provides model stock option and employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) documents, plus brief explanations of the plan documents. (National Center for Employee Ownership)http://www.nceo.org/pubs/model_equity.html Guidance Overview Understanding the Option Dating Controversies: Practical Problems and Issues- (Found July 5, 2008 ) Excerpt: "The prior installment of this article series discussed the myriad of legal problems and issues that option backdating participants face. If those were not enough, option manipulation activity raises a host of practical and business-related issues. This installment of the series highlights some of the more common practical issues, although it is by no means an exclusive list of problems that such companies are facing or will face in the future." (Employee Benefit Plan Review..http://www.blankrome.com/index.cfm?contentID=37&itemID=1574 Guidance Overview Stock Options Revisited: A Renewed Focus on Net Exercise Provisions (PDF)- (Found July 5, 2008 ) 3 pages. Excerpt: "Recent changes in the tax laws and accounting pronouncements have spawned a renewed interest in equity grants that are settled in stock. Until the issuance of Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, most stock options provided optionees with the choice of exercising the option by making a cash payment equal to the exercise amount (the exercise price multiplied by the number of shares subject to the option) by surrendering shares with a value equal to the exercise...http://www.pogolaw.com/files/news-alerts/2569/Stock+Options+Revisited_06.08.pdf Broadcom CFO and CEO Indicted - Indictment Reveals Litany of Alleged Backdating Schemes- (Found July 5, 2008 ) Excerpt: "The former CFO and CEO of Broadcom Corporation have been indicted by a federal grand jury in California on securities fraud and conspiracy charges related to backdating stock options that caused the company to take a $2.2 billion write-down in 2007. The restatement is reported to be the largest accounting charge taken in connection with an options backdating case." (CFO.com)http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/11521635/?f=archives Guidance Overview Spring-Loading Options - Emerging Trends in the Law of Fiduciary Duty- (Found July 5, 2008 ) Excerpt: "This article was originally published in the Law Journal Newsletters The Corporate Counselor, Volume 22, Number 12, May 2008. It is reprinted here with the publisher's permission. Delaware courts are beginning to analyze claims concerning the controversial practice of spring-loading options. Spring-loading is the granting of options just prior to the release of favorable company information (in the company's possession at the time of the grant)." (Winston & Strawn LLP)http://www.winston.com/index.Cfm?contentid=34&itemid=2736 |