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To: TideGlider who wrote (11001)	12/4/1997 7:23:00 PM
From: Bruce Tiemann	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

[msft selling puts] It's in the current issue of NewsWeek (cover, Amistad and black slavery: should the US apologize). >>I always thought a company was not allowed to sell puts or short their own stock. Kinda like a baseball player wagering on if he will strike out.<< Selling puts is bullish - not like shorting or wagering one will strike out. You guys want puts on our stock? Fine, here have some puts. The article claims MSFT raised something like 270 Million dollars that way, selling puts. Question: If they sell puts, and the stock then does tank, and MSFT can't afford to be put the stock - then what? Does the SIPC bail the put buyers out, or what? Bruce Tiemann

To: TideGlider who wrote (11001)	12/4/1997 7:53:00 PM
From: Zeev Hed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

Selling puts is not shorting your own stock, it is agreeing to buy from a seller at a predetermined price. I read it at the dentist, the Dec 8 issue of the Times (or was it Newsweek) where hey described the problems (and the millionaires) that MSFT has created with the widespread use of options in their organization (about 21,000 of their 28,000 or so, all from memory have options. They are going into the market and buying shares for thei option program and to lower their cost, they sell puts since there are prices (below the market of course) where they would be buyers anyhow. Selling time premiums lower thir costs. They made $278 MM in this fashion (but the article did not say what was the time span of the activity.) Zeev