Has anybody thought he might be selling shares at market value to get together enough funds to buy his options? These people don't have endless resources and would need to get cash from somewhere to buy in the order of magnitude they have available to them.

He can ten fold increase his holdings by selling a few at market value and buying all his options up.

I would expect all the directors do this before a sell off. They would be crazy to leave options on the table.

That would actually be taken (by me) as a very good sign that a deal is imminent.