Companies Sprint agreed to buy Centel, a leading provider of local-telephone as well as cellular service, for about $3 billion worth of Sprint stock.

That covers options for 17.8 million shares of Sprint stock, with an average exercise price of $59.15.

Of course, 1,000 options to buy Sprint stock at, say $25, could prove to be worth a lot more than 1,000 options to buy the stock at $59.15.

Sprint switched from making annual incentive payments to giving Mr. Esrey big grants of options on Sprint stock.

In the absence of Global One, there would be little reason for the French and German companies to hold on to their Sprint stock.

Because the price of Sprint stock has plummeted, however, he owns shares worth only $39.4 million based on yesterday's closing price.

Liberty Media already has $5.5 billion in cash, about $5 billion in Sprint stock and the right to borrow up to 25 percent of its market capitalization - $36 billion as of yesterday.

Centel was purchased by Sprint in 1993 for approximately $3 billion in Sprint common stock.

Much of Mr. Esrey's personal wealth is tied up in Sprint stock.

In his case, Mr. Esrey was given an additional option on 216,000 shares of Sprint common stock and 216,000 shares of the cellular operations, according to merger documents.