Or here is a better one: "Sorry we cant actually fulfill the contractural obligations we are (sort of) legally bound to fulfill, and cant pay you like we promi

Or here is a better one: "Sorry we cant actually fulfill the contractural obligations we are (sort of) legally bound to fulfill, and cant pay you like we promised. So will you take a much smaller amount of money and a bunch of worthless stock options instead? By the way our stock options are going to be worth millions in a few months, so this is actually a better deal for you." Its like some weird pathogen has infected the whole industry with this!