Company grants nearly 6 million new options to top execs Oracle granted 5.9 million new unqualified stock options Friday, to be shared between nine of its executives, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Tuesday.The move shows stock options are still in favor at the Redwood Shores, Calif., database company, just as Redmond, Wash., software company Microsoft announced plans to end its use of stock options as compensation.The Oracle executives benefitting from the new stock options are Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison with 900,000 options; Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Henley, Executive Vice President Keith Block, Executive Vice President Safra Catz, Executive Vice President Sergio Giacoletto, Executive Vice President Derek Williams, and Executive Vice President Ron Wohl with 700,000 options each; Executive Vice President Mike Rocha with 600,000 options; and Senior Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Cooperman with 200,000 options. The options have a strike price (the price at which they can be bought) of $12.60, and can be exercised between July 11, 2004 and July 11, 2013. Oracle shares closed Tuesday at $12.63. Over the last year, they have varied in price from $7.19 to $14.00. Software Development