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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in most of her stock options to travel the world, oversee a charitable foundation she founded, and write a book, still unpublished, titled "Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google.""
*wink wink*
Its cool baby, i'm not a cop.
So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
"Giigle: how Pure Envy powers nearly every startup in silicon valley, everyone reading this book, the NYT article, this Slashdot submission and this comment"
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Now, that's a happy ending
They need stock options as an incentive if new hires are called 'nooglers' :-)
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
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...
This gives new meaning to "massaging the data".
Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
Web company. Billions made in advertising dollars. Founders making billions. Employees getting rich from stock options.
When this crashes it will be loud and hard. Hopefully you guys working at Google are going to do the smart thing and save as much money as you can while you can.
And to think I discouraged my daughter from becoming a masseuse because I thought guys would think she's easy!
The truth is that many people working at Google are still passionate about Google and what it stands for. Now, it doesn't really matter what that is exactly. In the minds of Google employees there is something special about working at Google. Perception is everytihng.
Also, keep in mind that the stock price keeps going up. This isn't just because Google is cooking the books. They appear to be legitimate financially. As long as this is the case, many people -- even the millionaires -- will stay on board. I predict that once Google takes a serious financial hit, many will bail out. Ideals be damned.
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With the treasury bill rates what they are, around 4 %, each million only brings in a guarantted $40K if you want to be safe and make sure you keep your nest egg. So 5 million is 200K per year - a nice income but hardly enough to finance an out of control rock and roll lifestyle.
I know people who were working for FreeMarkets. The exercised their stock when it was selling at 190$ triggering paper profits of 180$ a share and AMT. Paid AMT and when they liquidated their holdings a year later, they made a LOSS after counting AMT.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
So, do you have a date? Vague predictions of doom aren't "actionable intelligence".
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
Maybe the reason why it's not done at Google to ostensibly check the stock price every day is out of embarassment over the fact that employees that join now will have to hope that their $700 options stay afloat while they may be more brilliant and their contribution more critical to the company than that of employees who join only one year ago.
I think that options are great for startup companies, which Google is not anymore, to compensate for the risk that the people who work in them do, and the fact that the contribution of early employees is by definition seminal to building a successful company. But for mature companies (which Google is now), it becomes too difficult to manage as a standard compensation system. How can you keep employees focused on their commitments if the cash bonus that you can afford to offer them at their annual review is dwarfed by the value of the stock options they already got just for being hired ?
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.
Word is she joined google after a massage-table-throwing incident.
:wq
There was a time when IBM was the juggernaut, and a young Microsoft was eyeing the giant and assessing whether the stones from its' sling might topple IBM. Interestingly, Microsoft took a niche and exploited it masterfully and then extended their market share and influence to the leadership position it occupies today - but IBM is strong and has massive revenue.
Even if Google grows to dominance and eats some of Mcrosoft's lunch, as Microsoft did to IBM, that does not spell the end of Microsoft.
But Herr Heisenberg, how does the electron know when I'm looking?
Stock options keep you going when everything else is falling apart, baby! I stared at that little window for a straight 18 months, and LIKED it.
Sure, Mountain View aint Redmond; there are actually more reasons to go outside, but if Microsoft had been giving out free food, I think I might have died under my desk, and my group manager just covered up my body and sprayed perfume on it until we shipped.
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