Right, but, why do they only have 200,000?

Quote from the article we're discussing:

Not all of the Bitcoin that were stolen were lost forever. Out of the 850.000 or so BTC that was stolen, abotu 200.000 BTC was recovered.

It's lucky Mt. Gox has any BTC at all.

They should owe those people the CURRENT price that they WOULD HAVE HAD if they had been hodling for four years, you know what I mean?

Mt. Gox is bankrupt. Bankruptcies suck for everyone involved. Creditors never get back their full value, unless the bankrupt company had an amazing insurance policy.

This case is a very special bankruptcy case, in that the 200.000 BTC they still have is actually worth more than the 850.000 BTC heist that bankrupted them. The best solution for those who had their BTC stored at Mt. Gox might have been to divide the remaining BTC among them instead of selling it and giving them the money. The problem with this is that these aren't the only debts Mt. Gox has! They probably owe money to banks, investors, landlords, employees, the power company, and dozens of others. And few of those would accept BTC as payment, and thus they have to sell most of it.