Gerstner to give IBM five more years

Five more years. That's what IBM wanted, and that's what it got.

Louis V. Gerstner, who joined an IBM in dire straits four years ago, straightened out computing's long-time dominant firm. He's now agreed to spend five more years at the helm of the company.

IBM's board of directors said in a two-paragraph statement that Gerstner will receive options on 2 million shares of the company's stock, worth an estimated $95 million if he cashed it in today.

Gerstner became IBM's chairman and CEO in 1993.