Many shareholders, including me, obviously feel conflicted about voting for the reduction in the price of options to insiders at a price level of Cdn $1.75 (17.5 cents pre reverse split )that is so far below the price we/you paid for our Poet shares . Yet one doesn't want to vote No ('Against") for fear it might adversely affect the company.

My view is that insiders should stand alongside shareholders in waiting for price appreciation, until their options are in the money rather than reducing them now. By the blanket reduction it also adversely affects the amount of monies Poet receives over the long term from the exercise of the future options.

I am also somewhat cynical about how insiders always seem to get their timing right. Insiders, prior to going on Nasdaq and pre-reverse split, in one short period of time, exercised options and sold stock at Cdn $1.56 (or $15.60 post split). Now they are asking for a price of $1.75 (or 17.5 cents pre split), not far from the lowest level to which the stock fell. $1.56 v 17.5 cents- that is the drop that has taken place.

The announcement of the request for option reduction was made in news release of 15 March 2024,. at which time time one can assume that insiders knew that discussions were already taking place with the 3 institutional parties who put up Cdn $20 million on 3 and 10 May, and also negotiations with FIT (Foxconn) were well under way (Page 3 of latest Zachs report of 10 June 24 says -Poet has been talking to FIT for the past six months-).

Under the above circumstances it would have been more suitable, even ethical, for insiders to have given employees their options at that time-15 March- and then wait until after the news releases re financing and FIT deal were announced to the public- thus avoiding the obvious perception that insiders were taking advantage of inside knowledge to benefit from information to which only they were privy ( and perhaps others like Mazann who were perhaps under NDAs ).

Many of the options held by insiders already have a long term to run, but part of the proposal is that 50% of options should be extended for 1 year extra.I think this is right for employees, but not for insiders.

With all the new shares that have been issued it means that 20% extra options will become or are already available.  Since insiders already have a large number of options let us hope that they do not proceed to grant themselves more at this point which might be viewed unfavourably. 

The possible solution to this dilemma of a yes or no vote to item 4 Insider Option Amendment is to ABSTAIN from voting on this particular question.

On to other issues:-

One wonders why all the newly hired IR people are not managing to move the price of Poet up. We are paying Hybrid Financial Cdn $15,000 per month- starting 1 April, and have already paid LFG US$ 25,000. Also what happened with Stockhouse to whom Poet (if I remember correctly) undertook to pay $100,000.

Also what is Mr. Lustig doing to earn US$1.5 million- does anybody know !