Yes, I hope you are wrong also. The back pay thing is throttling the company and a complete barrier to anyone wanting to make an investment. I would be more charitable if this had to do with repayment of cash loans to keep the company afloat, but it doesn't. It relates to full repayment of salary that had been set at a ridiculously high and unaffordable level (over $300K); worse, the performance of the company in general, and of the CEO in particular, did not justify a salary value of even half that amount.
Most companies would have sharply reduced all controllable expenses, but this one did not - the greedy, self-absorbed and entitled CEO simply filed a bunch of IOUs. Then he flogged the primary asset of the company (IP) and started paying himself back with the proceeds. We should remember also that he issued millions of below market options to himself (and co-conspirators) in a dubious action that meant the obligation was greater than the number of authorized shares. Again, most responsible companies might have considered a jumbo option grant as a replacement for salary or bonus that had not been repaid, but this one did not - the grant was added to the pile and nothing was taken off.
This needs to be cleared up and creating fully independent committees of the Board is one of the ways to get started. The Corporate governance structure is appalling which means that it is hard for any potential, serious investor to get involved.
Personally, I think applying a "factor" of, say, 0.33 or maybe even 0.50 to the "unpaid" salary value, and then closing it out could end this once and for all. Maybe an additional option grant of 3 or 4 million shares (at market value, of course) could add a bit of sweetener to the package.
I reckon that this company has, perhaps, three to five more years to "prove" the value of the technology and to refine the manufacturing and operations to make it a cost-effective option in the market. In oil & gas, we are totally reliant on our "sponsor" (that owns the technology) and, frankly, that has been a massive disappointment - the exclusivity agreement is, I think, about to lapse and I would feel a lot more comfortable learning that steps are under way to renew it for an additional term (preferably constructed in a way that is much more likely to deliver substantial manufacturing / supply business).
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