Companies Continue to Diversify Equity Plans

A new survey of technology and life science companies from Culpepper and Associates finds that both private and public companies are relying less on options than they did in prior years. While 59% of the companies still use options, 51% use restricted stock or restricted stock units, 11% have stock appreciation rights, and 8% have phantom stock. ESOPs are surprisingly well-represented in this sector, with 11% of the companies having these plans. Eighty-three percent of the options companies have other plans. A comprehensive version of the data is available for participants in the survey or subscribers to Culpepper's survey data.