Thursday, December 18, 2014

More conservative behavior noted among made men...

Today's "never would have happened two years ago" story is about a CEO who gave up a bunch of RSUs (restricted stock units) which were supposedly valued at ~2 million.  Of course, we don't know whether they were vested or not.  If they were then it was a real cash give-away.  If not then it was mainly symbolic.  But still, RSUs are not like stock options - they are actually shares of stock once vested.  So they cannot go worthless unless the company goes BK.  Options can go worthless if the stock trades below the strike.

Just how many RSUs did he give up?  44,445.  Pay no attention to this number.  It's just random coincidence... but of course I don't believe in them, do I?

In any case, the CEO didn't give up the RSUs because he felt bad about receiving something for nothing.  He was simply worried about being overpaid.  He elected to save his job from an angry board who might think it would be easier to replace him than to keep paying these outsized bonuses.  In other words, he did it for personal selfish reasons just like most of the new conservatism is being done for.

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