As Qwest Chief Financial Officer Oren Shaffer was departing, the company provided CEO Dick Notebaert with a powerful incentive to stay.

The company says on Monday it will grant Notebaert 1,013,000 stock options, plus restricted shares worth $3.85 million.

There are two conditions, however. Notebaert must stay until March 5, 2010, and Qwest stock must trade for 90 consecutive trading days at $10.50 or more. If he voluntarily resigns, or if the stock fails to hit those levels, the options and restricted shares disappear in 2010.

Qwest stock closed at $8.88 Wednesday, meaning the $10.50 hurdle is attainable. Qwest stock must increase about 6 percent per year each year, about the rate of a long-term Treasury note.

Qwest did not place a value on the options. Using a pricing model and assumptions Qwest used in its recent 10-K annual report, the option award would be worth about $5.9 million, on top of the $3.85 million in restricted stock.

Or, another way to look at it: If the stock reaches $10.50 and Notebaert is able to sell shares at that price, he would reap about $6.2 million in option profits and stock proceeds.

Qwest now has granted Notebaert 14.3 million options and 3.1 million restricted shares during the course of his five-year career there that would be worth more than $81 million at today's prices.

Last fall, Notebaert exercised 3.875 million options for a pretax profit of $18.4 million, with plans to give it all to charities.

David Milstead is finance editor of the Rocky Mountain News. He can be reached at milstead@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2648.