RE:What? Can anyone explain????Even Steven,
It appears to me that Engquist, Zeitler, Spivak, and Brown were awarded options and in some cases direct stock shares in days past, and they are all exercising those options or selling the shares now. When an option is exercised, it is then converted to shares of the stock, and then the stock can be sold on the open market. Usually, the awardee of the shares has a set strike date each year that he can exercise his options over a period of 3-5 years, and he can hold onto them over that 5 year period of time until the price of the stock has risen to a level that makes it profitable to sell them. Notice the word "Usually" above. However, when a company is being bought outright, before the buyout, all of the options have to be optioned to "clear the decks" for the buyout, and outright owned shares are to be sold in a timely manner. I was part of a company where that happened - I was forced to exercise my options and sell my company-awarded shares right before the buyout.If I had any shares I had bought on my own, I could keep them until the buyout was final to get the final market price for the shares, or go ahead and sell them at any time from the buyout announcement until the sale was completed. It is my educated guess that is what is happening here. If I am understanding this right, the buyout is imminent- probably within 3 - 10 days.
Oakie 1