In case anyone is still wondering why stock options can be such a big deal, consider the case of Angelo Mozilo, chairman and CEO of Countrywide Financial. In an SEC filing, Calabasas-based Countrywide disclosed that Mozilo exercised 70,000 shares last Thursday for $9.60 each - and then sold them the same day for $42.22 each, which is what Countrywide had been trading for. Profit: $2.3 million. And this is just the tip of the compensation iceberg: Mozilo still has around 10 million shares that he has yet to exercise. By the way, Countrywide is not one of the companies implicated in the backdating hanky-panky. There's no need for sleight of hand when the stock has gained so much.