Another study, meanwhile, shows top executives at the nation’s leading financial firms have benefited from stock options that were awarded when share prices were low. The Institute for Policy Studies says the top five executives at ten financial firms have seen their stock options increase in value by nearly $90 million. A large amount soared in value as financial markets rebounded from the economic meltdown. But while many executives have seen a windfall, some 160,000 employees have been laid off from the top twenty bailed-out financial firms.