With respect to an employee stock option (ESO), it is an additional, new share option that is automatically granted when a share, rather than cash, is used (by an employee) to satisfy the exercise price of a previous share option. At the time of exercise using shares, the employee is automatically granted a new option for the same amount of shares used to exercise the previous option. The exercise price of the reload option is the market price of the stock on the date the reload option is granted, while expiration date and vesting status remain the same as those of the previous option. The time value of the reload option is greater than the time value of the exercised option.
A reload option is an option with a reload feature. It is more valuable than an option without this feature.
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