Their employees excised their stock options early. If you hold stock options before converting them to stocks then it gets treated as capital gains. If you excise before the holding period is up it gets treated as ordinary income instead.
If I'm reading their 10-K right (it's been a long time since I studied financial & tax accounting), they held a provision in 2003 for early conversions, which was reduced in 2004 by $42m.
ApprehensiveWhale t1_iscikee wrote
Reply to comment by hghg1h in [OC] Google IPO vs Now - breaking down revenue and profit sources by giteam
Their employees excised their stock options early. If you hold stock options before converting them to stocks then it gets treated as capital gains. If you excise before the holding period is up it gets treated as ordinary income instead.
If I'm reading their 10-K right (it's been a long time since I studied financial & tax accounting), they held a provision in 2003 for early conversions, which was reduced in 2004 by $42m.