As much as I hate Cheney, and think he's the real evil genius in the current administration, these stories are kind of misleading. It makes it sound like Haliburton's stock actually went up that much and that simply isn't the case. In fact, HAL went down nearly 25% from April 2006 to Oct 2006 and is only just now crawling back up close to the price(per share) that it was a year ago.

In comparison, two of HAL's competitors, TransOcean and Global Santa Fe (which I own stock in) have pretty much followed the same path and actually even done better over the same period. The bottom line is that Big HAL simply isn't doing as good as people think it is, or should be.

What happened here is that Cheney's stock options have vested. When a company gives you a stock option it will "vest" over a period of time, usually 3-4 years, sometimes more depending on the circumstances. Until the shares are vested you can not sell so they are really only worth something on paper, not in reality. So, if he had 100 shares vested at the beginning of 2006 he had 3000 shares vested at the beginning of 2007, meaning he could now sell them and they'd actually be worth something.

Why Cheney still has stock options vesting this long after he left is definitely interesting. :wtf: Typically once you leave a company you have a very limited amount of time to cash in on whatever you currently have vested or they're gone. Even CEO's, although they usually get a better package, aren't usually given this long. The statement that "??It is unseemly,? notes Lautenberg, ??for the Vice President to continue to benefit from this company at the same time his administration funnels billions of dollars to it.? Is a bit of an understatement if you ask me.
Fengzi Reviewed by Fengzi on . Cheney??s Halliburton Stock Rose Over 3000 Percent Last Year Sources: Raw Story, October 2005 Title: ??Cheney??s Halliburton Stock Options Rose 3,281 Percent Last Year, Senator Finds? Author: John Byrne Senator Frank Lautenberg??s website Title: ??Cheney??s Halliburton Stock Options Soar to $9.2 Million? Faculty Evaluator: Phil Beard Student Researchers: Matthew Beavers and Willie Martin Rating: 5