A new study by Coopers and Lybrand has found that companies that grant stock options broadly grow faster than those that do not.
Companies planning to be acquired or go public are much more likely to offer options.
These data need to be viewed with caution. The sample is very narrow, and there is no way to tell if offering broad options causes greater growth or if faster-growing companies are simply more likely to offer broad stock options. Nonetheless, they do add to a growing body of evidence that more companies, especially in high-growth fields, are giving out stock options to more people than ever before. MidCon will finance the transaction with a 30-year note. As far as we know, this is the only transaction of its type ever put in place.