optionaire
n. A millionaire whose net worth is composed of, or was created by, stock options.
Etymology
stock options + millionaire
Examples
2001
Stock options made employees and executives fabulously wealthy. Former Lucent executive Carly Fiorina's 1999 package of stock and options for her work as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard was worth $90 million.

The phrase "optionaire" entered the vernacular. A firm called "Option Wealth" set up shop, to advise would-be optionaires.
—Ellen Simon, “Adding options can be harmful,” The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey), August 12, 2001
2000
As the heroes and villains of the new money culture — dot-com optionaires, bucket-shop thugs, genius C.E.O.'s — have dominated the popular imagination, the best programs on TV in recent years have dwelled on such old-world subjects as doctors, lawyers and cops.
—Jason Gay, “Prime Time Wall Street: The Cocky Stockbroker Returns in Three New TV Series,” New York Observer, April 17, 2000
1999 (earliest)
Hewlett-Packard [CEO] Carly Fiorina is joining the optionaires club. The computer giant unveiled its new CEO compensation package that includes stocks and options worth as much as $ 90 million.
—Ron Insana, “Carly Fiorina, Ceo Of Hewlett-Packard, to Begin Receiving Stocks and Options from Her Company,” Business Center (CNBC), September 22, 1999
Filed Under
moneyinvesting
Posted: October 11, 1999