A company had the following stockholders' equity section on its balance sheet on January 1, 2008:Common stock, $2 par, 10,000 shares issued and outstanding$20,000 Paid-in capital in excess of par-common 40,000 Retained earnings 10,000 Total stockholders' equity $70,000 .

All common shares were originally sold for $6 each. On February 16, the company reacquired 3,000 shares of common stock at $15 per share. 500 of these treasury shares were reissued at $20 on June 1 and 1,500 of these shares were reissued at $12 on June 15. Determine the total stockholders equity after recording these events, if no other transactions impacting the stockholders equity occurred.

a.$53,000

b.$70,000

c.$55,000

d.$66,000