Free Republic

The best thing about an employee-stock-ownership plan is that it gives workers a stake in their company's future. Which is also the worst thing about it. That may never be more apparent than in the $8 billion sale of Tribune Co. Chicago real-estate magnate Sam Zell is vying against the duo of Los Angeles businessmen Ron Burkle and Eli Broad. Both propose using an ESOP representing Tribune's 21,000 employees to take a majority stake in the company. While use of an employee share plan offers the company's suitors a powerful tool to finance the deal, including attractive tax breaks, it...

<p>Lehman Brothers' carefree use of restricted stock has come back to haunt the Wall Street giant, costing the company virtually all of its 2002 cash flow, a shocking report by a leading Wall Street analyst claims.</p> <p>In 2002, Lehman Brothers had to use 90 percent of its cash flow to buy back shares so the wads of stock it had doled out to employees wouldn't dilute the stock's value.</p>

Long-Awaited Option Vote Rule About To Become Reality . By Phyllis Plitch Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--More than a year after the nation's stock exchanges went to work reviewing listing standards in an effort to restore investor confidence, the first of a batch of corporate governance reforms is finally becoming a reality. Under new market listing standards expected to be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, companies will have to bring most stock option plans to a shareholder vote. Once the rules are in place, companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and...