To cite one case, the cost of a put on Cell Pathways, an unprofitable biotech firm (up by 500% in the past year), is fully half the cost of its shares.
DeCode is a small, unprofitable biotech firm founded by the genetics visionary Kari Stefansson , who left a tenured post at Harvard University to go back to Iceland and probe the genetics of an entire country.
As in cases of predatory pricing, when a big firm slashes prices to unprofitable levels in the hope of recouping its losses and more once weaker rivals are driven from the market, revenue is sacrificed in the short run in the hope of dividends later.