Welcome to the board Bear,

Management would grant these options, and the high volume at the cheapest price they can. I beleive options were due to be granted to management, etc around now anyway. The $2.01 was an opportune time to grant them and they have to be priced at what the shareprice was the day before they were granted, or close.

The grant of options at those prices you mentioned, $5-$10, may not effect the sp. IMO, it probably shows that confidence is high, to grant that many now, although the same amount was issued last Nov I beleive (without checking). You have to remember also , that these options are the only pay some of our employees get for the year.

My thoughts on waiting and granting options later, may be too late if an offer comes in around $20 or $30 and things go berserk with a bidding war. I also think, and someone should check this, that management may not be able to issue options once an offer is on the table.

I am not sure, but this may have been the limit we allowed management to go at the last AGM. To find this out, you would have to do the math and tally forward to see how many shares could still be issued.

IMO