31.   At the urging of the brokerage firm that Microsoft hired to run its options plan, they borrowed heavily to exercise their options before the stock plunged.

32.   At Vignette, as at many tech companies, employees can exercise the options to own company stock over a four-year period.

33.   Azteca blocked NBC from exercising the option by asking the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris to nullify the contract.

34.   BHP has six months to exercise an option to buy into the pipeline.

35.   Billionaire Paul Allen said he exercised his option to buy the Seattle Seahawks football team for an undisclosed price from owner Ken Behring.

36.   Both GM and Investor refused to discuss what it would cost to exercise the options.

37.   A high stock price would allow the executives to exercise their options and reap enormous windfalls.

38.   A company is typically allowed to deduct the difference between the price at which an option is exercised and the market value of the share.

39.   A major league source said the team will decline to exercise his option, which makes Wakefield a free agent after spending the last six seasons with Boston.

40.   A spokesman for the maker of automotive seats and other interior parts said the executives were exercising options that were awarded as compensation and were about to expire.