Actually, I don't really think it's considered a "stunt". A lot of other CEO's do this as well such as Larry Ellison of Oracle. The salary doesn't really mean too much to them when they do have stock options that are worth a lot more in the millions and billions of dollars. But I think it's important to recognize that stock options aren't actually considered cold cash until you exercise them. I don't know how to exactly explain it, but it's not a direct expense to the company as an employee's salary would be. So with John Chambers taking a $1 yearly salary, that actually helps in contributing to reduce the company's expenses. Maybe not as much as people would like to see it, but every penny counts. Chambers personally stated that he did it to also help keep 2 or 3 important execs (who he said who were very close to him) with the company. All in all, I think it's pretty fair for Chambers to have the amount of options that he does have. If he does a good job, the company will then do well and so will his stock (more $$ for him) and also for the shareholders and employees. It's a win/win situation. If he performs horribly as a company leader, then his options will suffer and his performance will reflect that. I personally think that it will be a true test to how good Chambers really is. If he really is "All That", then he will definitely pull Cisco through this economic downturn and prove to people that he can really lead. I hope he does. Cisco really holds a big part of shaping the internet and the way things work. Just my 2 cents, Roger -----Original Message----- From: Jason Roysdon [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2001 9:31 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: OT- Another cool thing about Cisco (Re: Cisco fire staff) [7:2436] It's a stunt. His salary was like $300K. What are his stock options for the year worth? I can't recall the numbers I heard (plus rumors aren't worth much if you can't find some proof). I found this story stating in 1997 he received 800,000 stock options for the year. $300K is a drop in the bucket with those sort of options (granted, you need to cash them in at the right time). http://www.forbes.com/asap/1998/0223/052.html Oh, I found a better link from April '99 when he exercised 900,000 options and then sold 850,000 of them for a profit of $80M: http://www.xent.com/apr99/0013.html Oh, I found even better numbers: http://www.business.com/directory/computers_and_software/cisco_systems/peopl e/chambers,_john_t/ I wonder if he's giving up the $1M bonus for the year? The man has $1.23B, yes BILLION worth of stock options. Is it a stunt? Hmm. I'm not jealous, nope, not me ;-) Ok, $300K compared to $1B, it's 0.03% of his worth. Whoop-tee-doo. -- Jason Roysdon, CCNP+Security/CCDP, MCSE, CNA, Network+, A+ List email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://jason.artoo.net/ ""xc"" wrote in message [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > Now some of you may be thinking that the $1 salary is just a Cisco > publicity stunt. Sure, maybe so. FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=2442&t=2442 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
