Instead, Mayer’s 2014 options were granted on Feb. 27 with a strike price of $18.87, even as the stock closed at $38.47 that day. As at many companies, the number of options she ultimately collected hinged on performance targets. Thanks to the way hers are dated, those instruments would have generated $14 million if exercised at the close of trading on Tuesday — rather than nothing.
“It’s extremely unusual,” said Alan Johnson, managing director of compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates. “It’s been a windfall for her.”
Bloomberg / December 9, 2015