Or he could just convert the bitcoins from a reliable source and not risk having a bunch of important money caught in Mt. Gox limbo.
Sure but what is 'reliable' in the btc world??
If I had to offload 1000btc I wouldn't throw it all at or into one exchange/account. Exchanges can be hacked, now there is a risk of complete loss whereas you are talking of risk of a delay.
If Ken is using TradeHill why didn't he convert Monday and pay eASIC Tuesday? Because their
claimed volume is 5x smaller than mtgox.
So taking 3-4weeks to sell hundreds of small batches or selling it all over 3days on gox then waiting for a wire transfer - which do you think would take the longest? There is a delay either way.
It'd be far too risky to use Gox right now and a very silly thing to do. Why risk your entire company when you don't need to, maybe for a few %? It'd be absolutely crazy.
BTW You can try and get an emergency transfer by paying 5% to Tux but that is also hit and miss. The funding issue isn't a myth either - I've been following it pretty closely. Mt Gox delays can be months or completely unpredictable. You can't perform business that way.
You also have to deal with banks on our side of the equation. It's actually very complex to convert that amount of money any time, let alone working with Bitcoin.
re: Tradehill - this sort of amount would probably be done in a dark pool so the (public) volume is irrelevant.