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A new survey of 150 high-technology companies from Mellon Financial Corporation's Human Resources & Investor Solutions group shows that the "burn rate" for options in these companies declined by 30% over 2003, and the overall use of options declined by 15% to 20%.

At this year's Fall ESOP Forum, we wanted to highlight the member companies that are going above and beyond the call of duty in making their ESOP, their employee-owners, and their communities thrive.

Shareholders of Mentor Graphics have voted to require the company to get approval of stock option plans. Mentor granted seven percent of its outstanding shares in options in 2000.

A 2005 survey of 268 large public companies by Mercer Human Resources shows that only 6% plan to eliminate their ESPPs, and only 15% of the companies with plans plan to change them this year, generally by reducing the look-back period or the discount.

In Private Letter Ruling 9639071, for release on September 23, 1996, the IRS ruled that the employer stock owned in a 401(k) plan that is merged into an ESOP will count towards the total amount of stock owned by the ESOP for purposes of meeting the 30% threshold to qualify for section 1042 treatm

In Meredith Corp., SEC No-Action Letter (avail. 8/9/02), the SEC ruled that the decision of the Meredith Corporation to not allow a shareholder proposal to require the company to expense options is an "ordinary business matter" and therefore not subject to a required shareholder vote.

The Michigan Democratic Caucus announced a bill (H.B. 5202) that would provide tax incentives for employee ownership, and a second bill (H.B. 5201) would direct the state to develop a program to assist in developing employee-owned businesses.

Microsoft is famous for making Bill Gates the richest person in America, but the company has made a lot of other people wealthy as well. At an NCEO workshop on broad stock options, Lisa Yeager, Manager of Employee Stock Services for Microsoft, described how the company's ownership plan works.

On July 8, Microsoft announced that it would replace its stock option grants with restricted stock. The company would continue to give stock awards to most employees; only the form of the award would change.

In the second-largest ESOP transaction ever, Occidental Petroleum is setting up an unusual leveraged ESOP for the 1,850 employees of its MidCon natural-gas pipeline division.