I doubt our company is purposely driving sp down.

As for options granting, they are purposely using this time because of tax selling and they know that this time of the year the sp gets whacked. So it should be no surprise that they choose this time for options.
Anyways, it is Christmas time so they grant themselves presents.
If they expire after a couple of years, it does not matter, they need to hit big time once to make up for lost opportunities.

This according to Ed (Cheers).