General Mills (GIS)

Valuation of Stock-Based Compensation Awards

We have various stock-based compensation programs under which awards, including stock options, restricted stock, and restricted stock units, may be granted to employees and non-employee directors. Stock option grants are made at 100 percent or more of the fair market value of our stock at the date of grant. These awards generally vest over four years and have a ten-year and one-month term. The expense recorded in our Consolidated Financial Statements beginning in fiscal 2007 is based on the fair value of the awards.

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We estimate the fair value of each option on the grant date using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model, which requires us to make predictive assumptions regarding future stock price volatility, employee exercise behavior, and dividend yield. We estimate our future stock price volatility using the historical volatility over the term of the option. If all other assumptions were held constant, a one percentage point increase or decrease in our current period volatility assumption would increase or decrease the grant-date fair value of our option grants by approximately 4 percent, or $1 million, in the twenty-six weeks ended November 26, 2006.