Sprecher, Brodsky Say Further Talks on CBOE Legal Dispute Are Possible

(Bloomberg) -- The top executives of Intercontinental
Exchange Inc. and the Chicago Board Options Exchange said they
are open to further negotiations to resolve a longstanding legal
dispute between the CBOE and the Chicago Board of Trade.

Intercontinental Exchange Chief Executive Officer Jeff
Sprecher is working with CBOE to help his effort to break up the
Board of Trade's plan to sell itself to the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange. The CBOT has accepted a $10 billion acquisition offer
from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange over Sprecher's unsolicited
$10.8 billion bid.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

The "True" Cost of Stock Options

How to value employee stock options (ESO)? This is possibly the central issue in the debate on whether these options should be expensed. According to basic accounting rules, if a value can be placed on this form of compensation, it should be expensed. Proponents of expensing employee stock options say there are many models that can be used to place a value on options.

Opponents argue these models are not applicable to employee stock options. This article will take a look at the argument of the opponents and then explore the possibility of a different approach to determining the cost of employee stock options.

Read more at investopedia.com

Mapping Out The Stock Options Landscape

It is an often-overlooked truth, but the ability for investors to accurately see what is going on at a company, and to be able to compare companies based on the same metrics, is one of the most vital parts of investing.

Today's financial markets are experiencing record earnings and profit margins and previously buried costs are just beginning to make their way into the bright lights of honesty and transparency.The debate about how to account for corporate stock options given to employees
and executives has been argued in the media, company board rooms and even in the U.S.

Congress. After many years of squabbling, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued FAS Statement 123 (R), which calls for the mandatory expensing of stock options beginning in the first company fiscal quarter after June 15, 2005.

Read full article at investopedia.com