DJ Starbucks Hldrs To Vote On Voluntary Option Exchange Program

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2139394/

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) said Thursday that shareholders will vote on
a proposal to amend the company's equity incentive plans to permit a
voluntary stock option exchange program at Starbucks' 2009 annual meeting March 18, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If the company receives shareholder approval, the option
exchange program would give eligible partners a one-time opportunity to
exchange certain outstanding underwater stock options for a lesser amount of new options that will be granted with lower exercise prices.

The number of new stock options would be determined using
exchange ratios designed to result in the new stock options having a
fair value approximately equal to the stock options that are exchanged.

The program would be approximately expense-neutral from an accounting perspective, the SEC filing said.

Shares of the company's stock traded Thursday afternoon at $8.85.

-By Ingrid Pedrick Lehrfeld, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-1361

(END) Dow Jones Newswires