New ground for me mazola...so pardon the question if it seems stupid.  Why no choice but to sell the shares after exercising the option?  Is that because of the taxes due? 

If I'm a CEO making $500K a year and I exercise on 100K options priced at $0.65 when the PPS is $2.65....do I automatically have $200K in taxable income?  I'd assume the marginal rate on that $200K profit if its all treated as income...I assume the marginal rate would be north of 40%...so a tax bill of $80K+.