Microsoft employees averaged more than $1 million in profits on their stock options in the past year. About 21,000 have stock options and thanks to the difference between the market price and their option price there was $26 billion in paper profits to be divided among them this year.

The $1 million plus is an average figure. For each employee the amount depends on his or her holding.

In some cases the options cannot be realised for some years. But it's a nice bonus on top of what are already good salaries.

Estimates of how many millionaires Microsoft has produced varies between 5,000 to 10,000. But with the value of Microsoft shares multiplying by 250 since the company went public in 1986, there has been an awful lot of money to be made if you had share options.