: J.P. Morgan's new patent: buying underwater stock options.

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Barry Ritholtz <ritholtz () optonline net>
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 15:34:32 
To:Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: J.P. Morgan's new patent: buying underwater stock options.

Hey Dave,

Here's another entry for the "enormously foolish patent pile": 
Underwater tech options. J.P. Morgan, who recently arranged to purchase 
underwater options from more than half of Microsoft employee/option 
holders, filed for a patent on this "Business Model."  (Too bad they 
couldn't get a patent for the financial advice they gave to companies 
like Enron, Tyco and Worldcom; Now THATS a Business Model!)

See attached article. Happy New Year.

Barry L. Ritholtz
Market Strategist
Maxim Group
britholtz () maximgrp com
(212) 895-3614
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Big Picture:  A blog of capital markets, geopolitics, with a dash 
of film!
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/




Trash to Treasure
J.P. Morgan has a new business: buying underwater stock options.
By Julie Creswell
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/investing/articles/0,15114,567664,00.html

J.P. Morgan Chase is diving into a new business. In December the bank 
completed a landmark deal to buy up underwater options from Microsoft 
employees, paying an average $1.11 per share for 345 million options. 
(Employees could participate only if their options had a strike price 
of $33 or above; Microsoft's stock currently trades at $27.) More than 
half of Microsoft's eligible employees cashed in, including seven vice 
presidents who sold options valued at about $23 million (Bill Gates and 
CEO Steve Ballmer don't receive options). Besides the bucks the bank 
could make if Microsoft's stock climbs, J.P. Morgan also reaped more 
than $10 million in fees for the deal.

Now the bank is trying to turn this novel deal into an ongoing business 
niche. J.P. Morgan has filed a patent on the deal's structure, and its 
bankers are meeting with tech, telecom, and financial services 
companies that they say are considering both one-time and ongoing (for 
instance, quarterly) option-transfer programs. Some companies may be 
willing to do a deal to improve employee morale, but accounting-rule 
changes could also be a motivating factor. Beginning in 2005, all 
companies will likely have to start expensing options—that will hurt 
profits at firms that have awarded big options grants. The looming 
deadline "makes this a front-and-center issue," says Peter Engel, a 
J.P. Morgan banker who worked on the Microsoft deal.

Still, Microsoft's situation was not that of the average troubled tech 
company. "Microsoft was moving from giving its employees options to 
giving them restricted stock, so this deal makes a lot of sense," says 
Bruce Brumberg, editor of Mystockoptions.com, an online research firm. 
"But in an up market, options have a lot more value." That is, unless 
your company's stock is swimming with the fishes.



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