IBM to offer USD 1,000 stock bonus to staff

Technology giant IBM today said it will give USD 1,000 worth of shares to its over one lakh employees in India as part of its centennial celebrations.

IBM, which will celebrate a hundred years of existence on June 16 this year, will give each of its employees globally a USD 1,000 stock bonus.

"IBM employees globally, except those at the executive level, will receive USD 1,000 in stock bonuses," an IBM India spokesperson said.

He, however, declined to comment on IBM''s India headcount, since the company does not disclose country-level employee numbers.

However, industry analysts peg the strength of the company''s India-based workforce at over one lakh. IBM has four lakh employees globally.

"The company is still working on the eligibility criteria for the bonus. However, one of the criteria is that the person has to be an employee (full-timers and part-timers included) of IBM or its wholly-owned subsidiaries before December 31, 2010," he said.

Eligible IBM employees will be offered ''restrictive stock units'' (RSU), under which the employee will be promised returns on the stocks awarded without actually owning them.

This means that at a stock value of USD 159 (on January 28), the USD 1,000 stock bonus will translate into 6-7 stock units.

Also, since these stock incentives will not vest until 2015, anybody quitting the company before June 16, 2015, will no longer be eligible to receive shares.

IBM reported revenues of about USD 100 billion and record free cash flow of USD 16.3 billion in 2010.

Source:http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/IBM-offer-USD-1-000-stock-pti-204082388.html