So, yesterday my company, VeriSign, announced first quarter 2002 earnings, as well as a 10% employee layoff. You can read the news HERE and HERE.

Today, the stock price fell like a rock, hitting the lowest numbers the company has seen since 1998, which is, incidentally, the year the company went public. Obviously, this affects two interested groups of people: 1) Employees and 2) Investors. For those of us that are both employees AND investors in the company, it's a double-whammy. The 45% drop in stock price has also managed to wipe out about $2 billion of the company's market value, and has prompted more than a few investment firms to downgrade the stock in their projections.

To make matters worse, I participate in both the Employee Stock Purchase Program, and the stock options program. I have options that are vested at $34 per share, and are so far underwater that I have to strap on SCUBA gear just to check my options account status.

Needless to say, the recent news and events are a little less than encouraging. I find myself in a fairly precarious position, with a new house, a new car, and all the recurring costs of daily life threatening to keep me on rice and Ramen noodles for the remainder of the year. I'm not poor (far from it actually), but I've let myself get cornered by the trappings of a middle-class lifestyle, and with the uncertainty stemming from my sole source of income, I'm more than a little worried about how I'm going to continue to support myself if something bad happens with my job.

Sometimes, I wish I had stayed out on that little island in the Pacific...

Later,

Bryceman - 4.26.02