I agree with your sentiment, and that of dbl, kenton, barts etc.
With regard to your comment
"That's not incentive that's gouging - and I think the Board finally realised that"
I suggest that what the board actually realised is that the total "no" votes exceeded the total "yes" votes and the horse they were flogging had ceased breathing days earlier. They seem to have realised this shortly after voting closed on Monday (Sunday night US).
It doesn't appear that they realised anything about the appropriateness of what they were trying to do, or the timing of it, only whether or not they could get away with it. Sadly they have failed to acknowledge this.
We didn't see any explanation for the withdrawal (which occured after the event) and apparently no acknowledgement that they understood shareholder concern. In fact the last comment from management on the subject pretty much inferred that shareholders didn't understand it. Not only rude in my opinion but also ironic given that despite their best efforts to avoid answering the questions posed to them it seems holders understood exactly what was going on.
While I still back management I believe this entire eppisode is extremely poor form. IHO of course.
SSN Price at posting:
10.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
