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Even the Masseuse is a Multimillionaire at Google
PCOL writes "The NY Times is running a story on how stock options that have given an estimated 1,000 employees at Google a net worth of $5 million each affects the culture at Google. Google gives each of its new employees stock options, as well as a smaller number of shares of Google stock, as a recruiting incentive. The average options grant for a "Noogler" (new Google employee) who started a year ago was 685 shares at a price of roughly $475 a share which at last Friday's close would be worth $128,000. But employees say Google is different from other large high-tech companies where the day's stock price is a fixture on many people's computer screens. "It isn't considered 'Googley' to check the stock price," said one engineer adding that it is also considered unseemly to discuss the price with other employees. And the masseuse? In 1999 Bonnie Brown answered an ad for an in-house masseuse at Google "on a lark" and after five years of kneading engineers' backs, she retired, cashing in most of her stock options to travel the world, oversee a charitable foundation she founded, and write a book, still unpublished, titled "Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google.""
Dont get to greedy with the stock options, just before WorldCom went on its downward spiral some people were bragging about their options and what they were worth, some had been with the company for 10+ years, in the end they lost almost everything
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
I know you're an AC troll, but I've seen this attitude from many. How can you judge the worth of their stock (or their company) by the share price? What if there were only 1,000 shares outstanding, would they be worth $600 per share then? A company isn't under- or overvalued because of share price, it is because of its overall MARKET CAPITALIZATION, i.e. share price * #shares outstanding.
Google seems to be employing the same technique as Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet), i.e., never split the stock. The benefits of doing this is that your stock price is less subject to the "churn" associated with dime-a-dozen 401(k) "day traders" who don't understand that $600 * 1 == $25 * 24.
I have no opinion either way on the value of Google stock as I haven't looked at the numbers, but it's viewpoints like yours (coming out of ignorance) that cause the boom and bust stories in the market. Find good companies at a good price run by good management (the unstated part of this is that to figure out these points, it needs to be a company in an industry you understand), then buy and hold until those factors change. That's all there is to it. Most investors don't have the patience to implement such a method, which is why you can be told how to make money and it still works. And if you doubt me, ask Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffet, and Peter Lynch how it worked for them.
My former company (a producer of math software) had a once-a-month onsite subsidized massage service. When I asked about it once, our HR person made a special point of emphasizing it was a chair massage, done over regular work clothes. Apparently they had once done a table massage (also over clothes) and there was some complaints that it the table made it "weird".
But hey, all the power to 'em. I think people that uptight are likely the ones who need a massage the most.
But, when you exercise the stock, the difference between market price and the exercise price is counted as your "gain" for the purposes of Alternative Minimum Tax. Though you have not sold anything and you have not seen any money and the gain is merely a paper gain, it is counted as taxable for AMT. If you follow this path and pay the AMT and the stock falls and you sell it at a lower price, you can claim a loss. You cost basis for the stock will the market price used in AMT calculation. So if it falls you could recover the excess tax you have paid. But still it is not a simple calculation of 33% income tax vs 20% capital gains tax. It is 33% tax in AMT + 20% capital gains on further gains in the next year or 100% of the loss in the next year. It is more complex to calculate and judge. Play it simple, get money into your pocket and pay the tax on actual realized gain.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
You can read more about Bonnie and read excerpts from her hilarious book, Giigle, at her Web site: www.GiigleBook.com