How do you think they help? Imagine a company with 1mn shares trading at $100, with $5mn earnings (ignoring taxes for simpliciy), i.e. $5 per share. Let&#x27;s say they can reduce cash compensation to employees by $5mn giving instead $10mn in stock (0.1mn new shares). GAAP earnings are now $0 per share. Fully-diluted earnings (excluding stock based compensation) are $9.1 per share.