Optimal exercise of executive stock options (Q1003338)

The authors deal with the problem of valuating executive stock options, when the standard risk-neutral valuation of the options is not appropriate. The authors' approach is to investigate the problem (optimal control problem) through its discrete approximation. It is proved that in most interesting cases the optimal solutions of discretisations (which can be evaluated numerically) converge to the optimal solution of the original problem. They demonstrate that optimal exercise policies of American call options, when the option holder is not allowed to trade the stock of the firm, may involve partial exercises. There is an optimal exercise boundary that relates the time to expiration, the price and the number of options held, The optimal policy consists of exercising enough options to stay below the boundary. The optimal exercise boundary for some examples is computed and the effect of changes of the parameters on the boundary is discussed.