InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[0nceinalifetime]

Does anyone think the share buyback announcement is related to the defeat of proposition 2 at the last shareholder election?

Where else are the insiders going to get all those lucrative options they like to award themselves? I had a little daydream:

Howard: Well, it looks like the shareholders are on to us. They've dammed up the river of options that we divert into our personal accounts.

Harry: Not so quick, Quicksilver, we'll just award ourselves some nice raises if there aren't enough options to go around! Remember who's in charge of this ship.

Howard: I don't know, that will really get the shareholders screaming, we've been doing pretty good with the options and whoever thought of hiring that consultant to determine comparable industry wages was brilliant! It's pretty hard for them to argue with that unless they commission their own study. But giving us raises beyond that is asking for trouble. The beauty of options is the way we are able to maximize the value of them by using the volatility of our shares as a value multiplier. If only shareholders had authorized the issue of more we would all be retiring before the shareholders find out what a charade we've been running!

Harry: I have an idea, we'll just use company funds to buy the shares back on the open market. The shareholders will be elated so we'll kill two birds with one stone.

Howard: That's brilliant, why didn't I think of that! Wait, don't answer that question....

Harry: All we need to do is depress the share price so we can afford enough without digging too deep into our cash reserves. As an added bonus, option grant time is coming up so we'll get a low strike price.

Howard: That's brilliant! I'm already smelling the money! Let's have a toast to the good life.

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