Discussion about "Yahoo Explains Why It Looks Like Carol Bartz Is Selling Stock (YHOO) - The Business Insider"

Yahoo Explains Why It Looks Like Carol Bartz Is Selling Stock (YHOO) - The Business Insider

DW - I like this article.  It clearly shows how there can never be enough communication in an industry with as much gray area as ours.

9 Oct 2009

Critics keep saying Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is selling stock.

They're saying it because Yahoo has filed several Form 4s with the SEC that say Carol is "disposing" of stock.

The latest was filed October 2. Read it and you'll see yourself that it looks like Carol sold 73,130 Yahoo shares worth $17.81 each on September 30.

If Carol really were simply selling Yahoo stock
to line her pockets, it would be a serious problem. She's supposed to
keep her shares so that she has incentive to make their prices go much
higher.

But both Carol and Yahoo insist she is not simply selling Yahoo shares and treating the company like an ATM. We believe them. You should too.

Here's Yahoo's explanation for what's going on:

The
transaction reported by Carol Bartz on Oct. 2 was not an open market
sale of Yahoo! stock.  Ms. Bartz filed a mandatory Form 4 on October 2,
which shows Yahoo! withheld a portion of a restricted stock award,
which vested on September 30, 2009, to satisfy Yahoo!’s tax withholding
obligations in connection with the vesting of those restricted shares.
 
The
terms of Ms. Bartz’s grant agreement, which was previously disclosed
and filed, requires that Yahoo! will satisfy its tax withholding
obligations in this manner.
 
Yahoo! is required to satisfy its
tax withholding obligations.  The withholding of shares to satisfy
related tax withholding obligations is used at many companies in
connection with restricted stock and stock unit awards because it is
far more practical to manage tax withholding obligations this way than
to collect cash from employees at each vesting event. We currently use
this withholding method for all restricted stock and RSU awards, and it
does not involve the sale of shares by the employees in the open market.

What does that mean in English?

It basically means that in the same way the companies most