My minds eye always goes right to the OS so you and 1jas caught that increase, thanks for pointing it out... The AS holds a lot of different meaning for a stock, unfortunately some on the OTC only see one ...but protection against hostile takeovers is as big a reason as any... No one is going to steal this company out from under them with that amount of protection. Acquisitions is also the reason, no need to arrange for a toxic loan to pay for a acquisition when you can use shares that will grant the purchased company a substantial return if they help to make the company stronger... so if they believe in themselves then they should be willing to take shares in the company buying them