Monsanto Millionaires See Fortunes Rise as Stock more than Doubles
Greg Edwards

February 15, 2008

Thirteen Monsanto Co. executives and directors sold more than $59 million worth of stock Nov. 15 through Feb. 4, benefiting from sky-high share prices boosted by record sales and profits.

Robb Fraley alone sold $12.2 million worth of stock after exercising stock options valued at $3.1 million. Fraley, executive vice president and chief technology officer, made almost $6.7 million in one day, Nov. 16, exercising options on 98,480 shares at prices ranging from $20.81 to $29.22 and selling them at prices ranging from $91.81 to $93.89 a share, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He also exercised options on 30,106 shares valued at $626,355 Nov. 28 and sold them for almost $3 million. Fraley still controlled 156,760 shares as of Dec. 3, the date of his last reported sale.

Hugh Grant, chairman, president and chief executive, made almost $5 million Nov. 15 by exercising options on 60,000 shares at $10.30 a share and selling them for prices ranging from $93.30 to $94.97 a share. After those sales, Grant, who also is a member of the board, still had 492,876 shares.

For the rest of this excellent story about stock options, click here: http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/02/18/story1.html.

This story, which was written by Greg Edwards, appeared in the February 15, 2008 issue of The St. Louis Business Journal (www.stlouis.bizjournals.com).

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