Konami Gives Employees the Option

Konami said today that it is giving its senior employees a stock option incentive system to help motivation. The system allows employees to buy shares of the company at a price either equivalent to or below the market price for a specified period of years. In theory, Konami hopes this form of ownership will translate into a hard working staff who will want to boost Konami's profits.

To effect the plan, Konami will buy back 110,000 shares of the stock from ordinary stockholdersand then distribute them to 151 of its senior employees. These employees will be able to execute their options from April 1, 1998 to March 31, 2001.

The company is also giving a quasi-stock option to board members and employees of its five subsidiaries. This means that those employees can buy Konami shares from financial institutions at a future date and set price. The company is hoping that this will motivate employees to develop better software.