Time was when stock options were a big deal, the stuff of digital dreams. Overnight millionaires and billionaires everywhere. But, as we’re learning, stock options can be a pain when associated with questions of conflict of interest. It’s a dilemma for GOP vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney, who is in line to collect $20 million or so in stock options as part of a retirement package from the Texas oil giant he headed, Halliburton Corp. One of those Old Economy firms that knows how to make a profit.
Needless to say, Cheney is getting an earful from the Dems and the press.
The problem is Cheney-were he and Dubya to occupy the White House-would be in position to affect Halliburton stock value through administration policy. Not that he would, of course. But the appearance of a conflict-at a very minimum-still makes for trouble. Cheney said he’ll divest Halliburton shares if he and Dubya win in November.
For moral support, Cheney ought to confer with CTIA President Tom Wheeler and John Stanton. Stanton, VoiceStream Wireless head and chairman of CTIA’s board of directors, a couple years back blessed Wheeler’s foray into the wireless data business. Wheeler is a pioneer investor in and a director on the board of Aether Systems Inc., which in only a year’s time has built itself up into a wireless data giant.
Wheeler also sits on the board of OmniSky Corp., a joint venture of Aether and 3Com Corp. that also appears headed for wireless data stardom.
With Aether’s latest public offering, an action requiring the sale of locked-up shares by Aether insiders, Wheeler is poised to begin cashing in. According to Aether’s Aug. 25 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wheeler must exercise an option to sell 2,850 shares of the 47,500 total he holds. At about $140 a share, that’s a $400,000 pay day. And that’s just the beginning.
Conflict? Under the risk section of the its Aug. 25 prospectus, Aether says its ability to grow and prosper depends on its ability to buy sufficient spectrum capacity from wireless carriers-like those represented by CTIA. And of course, mobile-phone carriers want Wheeler to secure more spectrum for wireless data applications of 3G fame. Dollars aside, this is not a good situation for Tom Wheeler, a good and decent man. Or for the wireless industry.
