Hip Hop artist 50 cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, has reportedly received a $400 million paycheck after Coca-Cola purchased the company behind his energy drink Formula 50.

Glaceau, the company which produces Vitamin Water, was acquired in a $4.1 billion deal last Friday. 50 Cent became a shareholder in 2004 and had a 10% stake in the company when the deal was signed.

Another person profiting from the sale of Glaceau is New York Mets third basemen David Wright who had a 0.5% stake in the company (or $20 million based on the buyout price).

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Barron’s Online is out with a story regarding possible reasons behind the decline of OptionsXpress’ shares. The stock has dropped more than 20% since November amidst an environment where both the broad market and option trading volume have surged.

OptionsXpress has targeted individual traders and helped drive the options boom which resulted in Wall Street salivating over its impressive results. The company held more than 204,600 customer accounts in 2006 (up from 22,171 in 2002) and was had a compound annual growth rate of 81% for revenue and 101% for net income.

Lately, Barron’s says, the murmur on OptionsXpress has grown dark and ominous. Their success has invited competition from both upstarts and larger firms muscling in on its turf, making it tougher to snag new customers. The cost of attracting each new account has more than doubled over the past year to $350.

Also, as the U.S. contemplates trading options in penny increments, exchange and market makers squeezed by narrower spreads are threatening to cut back on payments to brokerages for steering customer orders their way. The kickbacks, called “payment for order flow,” make up 15% of OptionXpress’ revenue.

Barron’s goes on to conclude that sensing the end of the line, growth investors have disembarked and the shares may have continued to slide if not for a whiff of takeover speculation last week.

Below is a one year chart showing the share price performance of OptionsXpress, which trades under the ticker symbol OXPS.