In the Quantum case, the future of the company was much more uncertain. There was at least a legitimate argument that the stock price would rebound during the time period in question. On another matter in the Quantum case, the court ruled that the date of the appropriate valuation for the sale should be when the assets were transferred. Employee Millionaires Microsoft is famous for making Bill Gates the richest person in America, but the company has made a lot of other people wealthy as well. At an NCEO workshop on broad stock options, Lisa Yeager, Manager of Employee Stock Services for Microsoft, described how the company's ownership plan works.
Management decides who gets options and how many they receive.
Employees can sell their shares they day they exercise their options in a cashless transaction that leaves them with the after tax gain on their options' value. As a result, at least 2,000 of Microsoft's 18,000 employees have become millionaires and many more have six-figure amounts. All rights reserved.