On January 1, 2018, Tunis Inc. granted stock options for 50,000 of its no par value common shares to key employees, at an option price of $25. On that date, the market price of the common shares was $23. The Black-Scholes option pricing model determined total compensation expense to be $375,000. The options are exercisable beginning January 1, 2021, provided the key employees are still employed by Tunis at the time the options are exercised. The options expire on January 1, 2022. On January 2, 2021, when the market price of the shares was $29 per share, all 50,000 options were exercised.

The amount of compensation expense Tunis should have recorded for calendar 2020 is:

$125,000.

$50,000.

$187,500.

$0.