On January 1, 2014, Sharp Corp. granted an employee an option to purchase 12,000 shares of Sharp's $5 par value common stock at $20 per share. The Black-Scholes option pricing model determines total compensation expense to be $280,000. The option became exercisable on December 31, 2015, after the employee completed two years of service. The market prices of Sharp's stock were as follows:

January 1, 2014 $30

December 31, 2015 50

For 2015, should recognize compensation expense under the fair value method of

a. $180,000.

b. $60,000.

c. $140,000.

d. $0.