Barge,
At the risk of stating the obvious and belaboring what seems to have become a tired discussion, I would like to suggest that this issue is less about the number of shares outstanding and the amounts that can be offered as employee options than it is about trust of the directors and executives of the company. I believe that there are fewer first rate technology business people available than there are technology jobs. We may have some sense of what it takes to attract someone of that caliber, but business ebbs and flows and requirements change from time to time.
Seagate’s Robert Thibadeau had some very supportive comments in last month’s NY Times article. “It’s phenomenal,” Mr. Thibadeau added, “but I actually believe in them [Wave] in the sense that there’s a community of companies and individuals who are the core, I’ll call them, of the whole trusted-computing initiative, and Wave is one of the main contributors to it.
“By most measures, Wave shouldn’t have been around, right?” he continued. “But by some method that I have no idea, don’t care to know, they survived, and I think the quality of the stuff is good, the quality of the technical people and some of the business people is really good.”
If we accept that trusted processing will grow significantly, that Wave will grow along with it, and that we want management to be well equipped to add quality technical and business people around the world, then it would be shortsighted to encumber them. If, on the other hand, we don’t believe in the management that has brought us this far, I think we have a very different problem to consider. I, for one, continue to reside in the former camp, and I will support management on the option position. I believe that the 500,000 share amount is too high, but I trust that management will use reasonable discretion in awarding options. Largely through Larry’s efforts and the handwriting on the board, I think our collective concerns have been heard and that reasonable attention will be paid to them.
As always, best wishes to all. I am optimistic that our considerable patience will be rewarded.
DooWop
AI
