As the stock market continues to founder, more companies —
especially tech firms — are looking for ways to help workers whose
compensation is largely tied to their employer's share price.

More have offered this month to exchange or re-price stock options
that have little chance of quick payoffs for their owners than in all
of 2007, research firm Equilar said Friday.

This year is also well ahead of the pace of 2008, and some of the actions are coming from well-known corporate names.

Internet giant Google and coffeehouse chain Starbucks announced
option-exchange offers Thursday. The goal, they said, is to keep
employees who might otherwise flee if they believe their options won't
be worth anything for a long time — if ever.

"Two or three years from now, we don't want to be sitting here
saying. 'Why didn't we lock in this employee?' " Google Chief Executive
Eric Schmidt said Thursday. "This is the right time to be doing
essentially what is a good long-term employee structure."

More such plans could be on the way as companies print their proxy
statements to prepare for the spring wave of shareholder meetings.

Outside shareholders may not like the move; they don't get the
chance for a "do over" when their stock tanks. And it also sends a
downbeat message about the company's prospects.

"It's not encouraging," said Anthony Valencia, managing director at
TCW Group, which owns Google shares. "It shows that the optimism about
the business isn't what you as a shareholder would hope it would be."

It could also be a sign that more companies are poised to follow Google's example.

"If the first month is any indication, we're probably going to see
the biggest year for option re-pricings and exchanges since the tech
bubble burst in 2000-2001," said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research...

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