Microsoft Corp employees received vested stock options worth $570 million in the fiscal year ended June 30 according to a 10K that Redmond recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commision reports our sister publication ClieNT Server News. The options represented rights to buy 28.5 million shares at prices ranging from $80.19 to $117.88. This year’s total is up 39% from $410m in options on 21.7 million shares that employees got a year ago, Redmond said. Stock options are how Microsoft millionaires are made though the 10K didn’t identify which employees got how many options. It’s the first time Microsoft has given the world a look at the value of its option plan. New SEC rules requiring option plan disclosure don’t go into effect until the end of the year but Redmond started out early as a show of good faith. Microsoft options are typically vested 4 1/2 years after they get them, at which point they can buy the stock at whatever their option price is. Employees who want can immediately turn around and sell the shares on the open market or wait up to a maximum of seven years before exercising them.
