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Small Business
Stock options as payment
June 22, 2000: 10:43 a.m. ET

In a volatile market, think twice before accepting equity in lieu of cash
By Jane Applegate
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Dear Jane: As a public relations expert who has helped build value at a couple of Internet companies, I need help with negotiating stock options or other forms of equity. Is there a table or formula to use? Most of what I see is from an employer's point of view.

Unfortunately, the world of stock options is rather murky. Options aren't worth anything until you can exercise them and in today's volatile market, many options will be worthless when they could have been worth millions.

If you are providing real PR services for the company, you should be paid something for your time. You don't want to accept equity in lieu of payment, especially if the company is small and in a high-risk arena.

If you really like the company and respect the management, accept a few options, but consider them a bonus that may or may not be worth anything down the road.

Try to speak with other creative professionals about their experiences in the option world. Landlords, attorneys and other folks also are accepting stock instead of cash, especially in California's high-tech areas.

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.