(Source: Press Release from Yahoo! Finance)
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dec. 16, 2003–World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE – News) today announced that it will offer its employees and performers the opportunity to exchange out-of-the-money options for restricted stock units representing the right to receive shares of the Company’s Class A common stock.
The Company’s Offer to Exchange will provide participants in the Company’s 1999 Long-Term Incentive Plan who hold options to purchase the Company’s Class A common stock with exercise prices of $17.00 or greater to exchange those options for a Restricted Stock Unit Award. Each Award will entitle participants in the offer to receive one share of the Company’s Class A common stock for every six options that they tender for exchange, subject to a two-year vesting schedule. Alternatively, participants in the Offer to Exchange who hold fewer than 25,000 out-of-the-money options eligible for exchange may opt to receive a discounted cash payment in lieu of a Restricted Stock Unit Award. Participation in the Offer to Exchange is not mandatory, and those employees and performers who choose not to participate will maintain their existing out-of-the-money options. Unless otherwise announced by the Company, the Offer to Exchange will expire at 11:59 p.m. on January 15, 2004.
The Company believes that the restricted stock units that it is offering will better align employee and performer interests with the interests of the Company’s stockholders, and that providing its employees and performers with the ability to choose a long-term compensation structure that may be better suited to their current risk preferences will help to further the goals of the Company’s equity compensation programs.
