Monday, March 1, 2010

Big paper profits already seen on stock options

[NYT's stock surge today benefited top executives]

A slew of stock options showered on a top executives in late February are already worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on today's big jump in NYT Co. shares. NYT stock closed at $11.75 a share moments ago, up 7.4% amid rumors -- later denied -- that the company was targeted for takeover by major investor Carlos Slim of Mexico.

The options awarded by the board of directors allow the executives to buy NYT shares from the company for $11.13 a share -- the "strike price" -- no matter how high the market price goes. They may buy and then sell the shares, known as "exercising" them, in three equal annual installments starting Feb. 18, 2011, newly disclosed company documents show.

The 62-cent difference between this afternoon's closing price and the $11.13 strike price means, for example, that Chairman Arthur Sulzberger's 181,650 options have now jumped in value to a net $112,623 -- in well under two weeks. Ditto for CEO Janet Robinson. See the chart, above, for paper value increases for all eight executives.

[Data: Google Finance]

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please keep comments focused squarely on topics related to the New York Times Co. and its affiliates.