2. Stock-Based Compensation

Equity Incentive Plan. Lamar Advertising’s 1996 Equity Incentive Plan has reserved 13 million shares of Class A common stock for issuance to directors and employees, including shares underlying granted options and common stock reserved for issuance under its performance-based incentive program. Options granted under the plan expire ten years from the grant date with vesting terms ranging from three to five years and include 1) options that vest in one-fifth increments beginning on the grant date and continuing on each of the first four anniversaries of the grant date and 2) options that cliff-vest on the fifth anniversary of the grant date. All grants are made at fair market value based on the closing price of our Class A common stock as reported on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on the date of grant.

We use a Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model to estimate the fair value of share-based awards. The Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model incorporates various and highly subjective assumptions, including expected term and expected volatility. The Company granted options for an aggregate of 32,000 shares of its Class A common stock during the six months ended June 30, 2011.

Stock Purchase Plan. The Company’s previous plan, the 2000 Employee Stock Purchase Plan or the 2000 ESPP was terminated following the issuance of all shares that were subject to the offer that commenced under the 2000 ESPP on January 1, 2009 and ended June 30, 2009. In 2009 we adopted a new employee stock purchase plan, which reserved 500,000 additional shares of Class A common stock for issuance to employees. Our 2009 Employee Stock Purchase Plan or 2009 ESPP was adopted by our Board of Directors in February 2009 and approved by our shareholders on May 28, 2009. The terms of the 2009 ESPP are substantially the same as the 2000 ESPP. The following is a summary of ESPP share activity for the six months ended June 30, 2011:


	Shares
Available for future purchases, January 1, 2011		331,795
Purchases		70,131

Available for future purchases, June 30, 2011		261,664

Performance-based compensation. Unrestricted shares of our Class A common stock may be awarded to key officers, employees and directors under our 1996 Equity Incentive Plan. The number of shares to be issued, if any, will be dependent on the level of achievement of performance measures for key officers and employees, as determined by the Company’s Compensation Committee based on our 2011 results. Any shares issued based on the achievement of performance goals will be issued in the first quarter of 2012. The shares subject to these awards can range from a minimum of 0% to a maximum of 100% of the target number of shares depending on the level at which the goals are attained. For the six months ended June 30, 2011, the Company has recorded $500 as non-cash compensation expense related to performance-based awards. In addition, each non-employee director automatically receives upon election or re-election a restricted stock award of our Class A common stock. The awards vest 50% on grant date and 50% on the last day of each of the directors’ one year term. The Company recorded a $181 non-cash compensation expense related to these awards for the six months ended June 30, 2011.