11.   Occasionally, a company will report disappointing earnings, its stock will tank and the board of directors will respond by making it cheaper for employees to exercise options.

12.   Shares of Newbridge Networks, a maker of computer and telecommunications equipment, fell after the company proposed allowing employees to exercise their stock options at lower share prices.

13.   The loan will be repaid from proceeds the company receives when employees exercise the stock options.

14.   These people love options because they get rich from them and because their companies reap enormous tax deductions when their employees exercise options.

15.   Under current rules, companies receive tax deductions for the options their employees exercise even though the options are considered to have no cost on income statements.

16.   Under current law, a company claims a deduction on its tax return when an employee exercises an option.

17.   When employees exercise their options and pay the strike price, they may provide cash infusions for companies that might otherwise have to enter the capital markets for financing.

18.   When the market price of the stock goes above the strike price, the options become profitable, and employees may exercise them, or buy the underlying stock.

19.   The loan will be repaid from proceeds received by Time Warner when stock options are exercised by employees, the company said.