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Verizon Grants Stock Options to Employees Company-wide
Verizon Grants Stock Options to Employees Company-wide
Published 09-08-00
Submitted by Verizon Communications
To mark the creation of the next great brand in communications, some 210,000 employees of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) will receive a financial stake in the future success of their new company through a company-wide stock option program announced today. It is the largest broad-based option grant ever made in the telecommunications industry.
"Through this extraordinary program, we are celebrating the tremendous promise of Verizon Communications and encouraging our employees, who are the founders of this new company, to help shape its future," said Verizon Chairman and co-CEO Charles R. Lee.
The stock options are priced at $43.34 per share and will vest in three years. Recipients will include benefits-eligible hourly, salaried and part-time workers on Verizon's U.S. payroll and select international and overseas payrolls as of Sept. 7, 2000. Verizon Wireless has separate benefit programs, and its workers are not included in the Founders' Grant program.
"Our talented workforce is focused on making Verizon the world's most respected brand in communications," said Verizon President and co-CEO Ivan Seidenberg. "The Founders' Grant provides our employees a long-term stake in our company and enables them to participate with our shareholders in the growth of the company's value."
Under the program, eligible employees below director level, who represent the majority of Verizon's workforce, will receive options to purchase between 100 and 700 shares, based on their employment category. Directors and above will receive grants according to their levels of responsibility.
Grants of 100 options to approximately 85,000 union-represented employees of the former Bell Atlantic are included in the Founders' Grant program and were announced previously. Some 40,000 union-represented employees of the former GTE also will receive grants of 100 options. Part-time employees will be eligible for one-half of the grant size in their category.
Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with more than 100 million access line equivalents and 25.6 million wireless customers. A Fortune 10 company with more than 260,000 employees and approximately $60 billion in 1999 revenues, Verizon's global presence extends to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com .
