a sad day, page-31

As to call options:

Formal contract between an option seller (the optioner) and an option buyer (the optionee) which gives the optionee the right but not the obligation to buy a specified security, at a specified price (called exercise price ) on or before the option's expiration date

They are simply derivates. Eg. The investor (mostly banks or mutual funds with colateral shares) trades shares(issued in 2008 when sp was $$1 or more) and than at the expiry date (19 May 2009) pays money to the optioner or gives the shares back. If the shares were given back, the optioner (TIM) would ask those institutions to sell shares on market at the market price. The generated money from sell is than given to the optioner. It seems: those institutions (which were earlier trading TIM from the options pool), probably conducted yesterday buying.

Is it in the financiers’ interest to drive TIM to collapse? I don't think so. DYOR

NJ