stock options

Cultural  

1. The right to purchase a company's shares at a future date at an agreed price. Companies often give stock options to their executives as an incentive to improve the company's performance and boost its share price. If the share price has risen above the agreed price of the option by the time the option is exercised, the executive stands to make a considerable profit.

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Example Sentences

In the United States, employees often get stock options, a form of so-called "golden handcuffs" allowing workers to profit from share price gains over a set period of time.

From Barron's • May 28, 2026

SpaceX could fetch a market valuation of upward of $1 trillion, a huge boon for its early private investors and employees with stock options.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026

Regarding conflicts of interest, Dr. Peterson is the President of Evolve Psychiatry Professional Corporation and an advisor to Evolve Adolescent Behavioral Health, where he receives stock options and provides expert testimony.

From Science Daily • May 21, 2026

During the past two decades, SpaceX has hired thousands of staff and granted them boatloads of restricted stock units, incentive stock options and nonqualified stock options that have vested over time.

From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026

From barter to the trading of commodities futures and stock options, from money to the cashless society, markets constitute frameworks for higher transaction efficiency, often equated with profit.

From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Nadin, Mihai