I just lost over 2000 stock options !!

polm · Jan 30, 2004

OK...so I worked for a pretty large corporation from May 2001 until June 2003. Over the course of those couple years, I accumulated about 2000 stock options at various grant prices, none of which the stock has managed to return to or beat.

So In October of 2003 I was re-hired by the company.

I was just checking my stock options account with Solomon Smith Barney, and according to their website all of my options expired on 09/05/2003.

S.S.Barney does not know why this happened.

My company's HR dept. is telling me they have to look into it, but that an employee has a period of time to exercise their options when they leave the company. They have yet to tell me what that amount of time is.

So although I am still waiting on a responce from H.R. I have a sneaky suspicion that I will lose all of these options.

Does 3 months sound like a fair window of time for me to excercise options after being layed off. The options were not set to expire until 2012 before I left the company.

Even if I had wanted to excersice them, I still couldnt because the stock is still too low.

What happened ! ???

V00DOO · Jan 30, 2004

Wow! That sucks. How much are they worth at current market value?

ndee · Jan 30, 2004

Aren't you in Israel? You sure sound like a story-teller.

polm · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: V00DOO
Wow! That sucks. How much are they worth at current market value?

nothing ... thats the thing...the stock is still lower than my lowest grant price.

but the stock is rising...

polm · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: ndee
Aren't you in Israel? You sure sound like a story-teller.

I came back after about 2 months...long story ;-)

Zenmervolt · Jan 30, 2004

Whatever is stated in the original options contract as happening after the employee leaves the company is "fair". You should have read the options contract.

ZV

polm · Jan 30, 2004

well...that's that..

HR just called me back and informed me that the contract explicitly grants a 3 month window to excercise the options or lose them

AARGH !

Zenmervolt · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: polm
HR just called me back and informed me that the contract explicitly grants a 3 month window to excercise the options or lose them.

This is why we read our contracts first.

ZV

Yossarian · Jan 30, 2004

in related news, polm's company just tripled its value overnight thanks to a remarkable new invention...

polm · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: PipBoy
in related news, polm's company just tripled its value overnight thanks to a remarkable new invention...

dude you have no idea...stock is rising fast as multiple company's bid to buy us out.

BTW....I work for a popular cell phone company

jaybert · Jan 30, 2004

AT&T i guess

DaWhim · Jan 30, 2004

wow! I had my internship at SSB

conjur · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: jaybert
AT&T i guess

He said "popular"

HonkeyDonk · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: polm
OK...so I worked for a pretty large corporation from May 2001 until June 2003. Over the course of those couple years, I accumulated about 2000 stock options at various grant prices, none of which the stock has managed to return to or beat.

So In October of 2003 I was re-hired by the company.

I was just checking my stock options account with Solomon Smith Barney, and according to their website all of my options expired on 09/05/2003.

S.S.Barney does not know why this happened.

My company's HR dept. is telling me they have to look into it, but that an employee has a period of time to exercise their options when they leave the company. They have yet to tell me what that amount of time is.

So although I am still waiting on a responce from H.R. I have a sneaky suspicion that I will lose all of these options.

Does 3 months sound like a fair window of time for me to excercise options after being layed off. The options were not set to expire until 2012 before I left the company.

Even if I had wanted to excersice them, I still couldnt because the stock is still too low.

What happened ! ???

lol...noob.

polm · Jan 30, 2004

What was I supposed to do ?

I mean...I'm getting layed off and they hand me a 15 page packet to sign or I don't get my severance.

Let's just say that I read the part about losing my stock options...could I have said "NO...I WONT SIGN" ?

What would that have gotten me ? Nothing ... right ?

or could I have waived my severance and kept the options for the 10 years ?

because the 3 month expiration was ONLY mentioned in my severance agreement..not in the options contract.

rh71 · Jan 30, 2004

So what you want is to have all of these back so that IF/WHEN the price does match/beat the stock option(s) price... you'll be able to cash out.

I mean, it's not like you actually lost money. You're just fighting for an opportunity to have them under your belt again.

I'm aware of a 10-year window if you remain an employee, but not sure about being laid off. You had no choice anyway. Why can't you just refer to those severance papers and see what it says about it ?

polm · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: rh71
So what you want is to have all of these back so that IF/WHEN the price does match/beat the stock option(s) price... you'll be able to cash out.

I mean, it's not like you actually lost money. You're just fighting for an opportunity to have them under your belt again.

exactly...I am about 50 cents away from beating the grant price on over 1300 shares of stock.

Noirish · Jan 30, 2004

they should've told you when you left.
however, it really won't make a difference to you.
as you point out, it's currently lower than your grant price, by exercising, it means you have to cough up the money to buy those 2000 shares at your grant price.
you'll be losing your money already.
3 months is a long time, i heard some companies are doing 2 or even just 1.
it's not a pre-ipo company so you really aren't missing much.

polm · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: orangel
they should've told you when you left.
however, it really won't make a difference to you.
as you point out, it's currently lower than your grant price, by exercising, it means you have to cough up the money to buy those 2000 shares at your grant price.
you'll be losing your money already.
3 months is a long time, i heard some companies are doing 2 or even just 1.
it's not a pre-ipo company so you really aren't missing much.

like I said before, if the stock goes up another 50 cents, I would stand to make money.

Noirish · Jan 30, 2004

yes, if you still have those options, but they expired already after 3 months.
i guess what you really want is have those options back without spending a dime, you can probably try bargain with them.

i guess one reason they didn't offer you to buy those options is because they were cheaper if you just buy them on the market.
you probably should've just bought them on the market then you are making money now.

polm · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: orangel
yes, if you still have those options, but they expired already after 3 months.
i guess what you really want is have those options back without spending a dime, you can probably try bargain with them.

i guess one reason they didn't offer you to buy those options is because they were cheaper if you just buy them on the market.
you probably should've just bought them on the market then you are making money now.

I just want what I had before....2000 stock options excersisable until 2012 at the grant prices they gave me. When they gave me the options they said 10 years..OK.

I got the job with some of those options as part of my hiring package....geez.

flot · Jan 30, 2004

That is VERY standard behavior for stock options. Yes, you definitely should have read/asked.

However, if all your options were under water, there's really not a lot to say.... technically you didn't lose anything.

Edit: I'm pretty sure the options would have had a 3 month expiration whether you were laid off, you quit, or possibly even retired. Options are an incentive to CONTINUE WORKING AT YOUR COMPANY, nothing more.

By the way - what is the current price of your company's stock? (approximately)

polm · Jan 30, 2004

This is probably a stupid question, but ....

Is it possible to claim the expired options as a "loss" of some sort on my Tax return ?

Jan 30, 2004

Yes 3 months is a typical time period in which to act.

tweakmm · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by: polm
What was I supposed to do ?

I mean...I'm getting layed off and they hand me a 15 page packet to sign or I don't get my severance.

Let's just say that I read the part about losing my stock options...could I have said "NO...I WONT SIGN" ?

There was no part about you loosing your stock options, you signed something saying that after 3 months you would exercise the options or they would be null and void and you did not act.

I'm not trying to be mean, that really sucks for you, but you should have read the contract that you signed.

I just lost over 2000 stock options !!

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