Reset Option

In an effort to raise company moral, Google has announced that it will allow more than 8 million stock options held by more than 17,000 company employees to be exercised at lower prices, but the company extended the vesting period for those options by one year. Starbucks has already joined the repricing bandwagon, although not as generously as Google. 72 percent of the Fortune 500 companies could follow suit in that their employee options are underwater.

Google's Growth and Ad Deal

There's two good stories out there this week about Google. First, there's substantial questions about Google's storage of search queries. As the Yahoo article says:

Why does Google log the details of search queries for so long? What does it do with the information? Does it combine data from the search engine with information it collects through other avenues — such as its recently released Web browser, Chrome?

The other story is that Yahoo and Google have redefined their internet advertising partnership agreement to help settle antitrust concerns at the Justice Department. According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo would be limited to just 25% of the search advertising revenues, the agreement would sunset in two years, and Google's customers will have the option to opt-out of the deal.