Oil drillers showering employees with stock options, Reuters reports
U.S. energy exploration companies leading a domestic oil boom increasingly are using stock options to find and maintain employees, evoking comparisons to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, reports Reuters. Smaller and mid-tier exploration and production companies that need to preserve cash for seismic studies, drilling and other expenditures, have been particularly active with options, according to a 2013 survey by Mercer, a benefits advisor and subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Cos