"The dividends were a mistake but there was probably pressure from Swartz to make that decision. "

I'm amazed at how many people now find the divis a mistake. Only a very small handful of people here opposed them and felt the money should be used to grow the company, myself included.

So...why wasn't it so obvious back then? While the "overhang" could have played a part in the decision ...what many people ignore is that the initial dividends were a big factor, imo, in driving the share price up to the $2.25 level. Since we didn't know license amounts or whether royalties would be ongoing or not, the announcement of dividends raised expectation of large money and plenty more coming which drove SP and allowed many of the long timers to get some big money off the table.

In hindsight we might say that having that money back would allow for better M/A activity, but if the plan was to drive SP and be able to reduce the overhang...it was no less than genious with perfect timing. Plus many of us wouldn't have gotten as big of a "cashendo" payday. joe