Not long after the acquisition was announced we reported that the newly-added subsidiary will retain a sizable portion of its independence to be able to continue doing things as expected.

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The reason this is a good time frame is that it gives you enough time so that if the stock price moves toward the strike price of the put early on, the call will likely retain a good portion of its premium and vice versa, which allows expansion of the spread and potential profit.

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As in Zollars' case, the companies typically retain a right to repurchase a portion of those shares at the grant price if the executive screws up.

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Companies can either retain their earnings and plow them back into operations or give a portion of them to shareholders.

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