I'm not a stock expert and we have limited information here but I think I understood the dilemma in a different way, perhaps someone can fill us in. I took OP's explanation that this man had actually shorted (sold options he didn't own) put options in the past. If their strike price happened to be very close to the Google share price early this morning, and they expire this Friday, then they would be relatively cheap to close (i.e. buying them back to close his position). However, the price drop would cause those same put's to jump in price by roughly the loss on a share. So what would cost him a few dollars or pennies per share to close, now costs $60 per share to close. Options are traded in 100 packs so I take it this put him back thousands.