Executive Equity Awards Increasingly Tied to Performance

An increasing trend toward tying equity awards to performance appears to be underway, according to new research from Equilar, Inc.

Among the findings from its recent study on Q4 CEO equity awards at Fortune 500 companies, Equilar reports that the percent of shares (including outright stock grants as well as options) awarded with performance-based vesting criteria has nearly doubled over the past year, increasing from 8.2% of all shares awarded in Q4 2006 to 14.7% of all shares awarded in Q4 2007.