One thing is fairly certain, if they are let go as the result of a buy out, their options will be deeply in the green, very, very deeply. That should constitute a faily heft severance package in itself.

As far as the value of the 200k options to the newest hireing goes, I don't see that as a $300k signing bonus. He has the option to buy up to 200k shares at a fixed price of $1.44 once the hold terms are reached. If he excersises the full amount of the options it will put $288k into PTKs treasury. So as of right now the value of his options is $8k.