Actually, I think that it's quite common for a company closing in on buying another company to insist on some kind of third party or disinterested entity to oversee the transition. The term consulting controller is specialized -- folks should look it up. Also check out the kinds of tasks this guy performed at his previous job as the controller there. I think using Chade's discovery to discount the possibility of a buyout would be a mistake.

This is the best post I've read since I joined iHub this January.

Buck is right. I believe that BD is taking this private as much for the value of the IP as anything. They'll pick up cheap shares for another week or two (or three) and then buy us out. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they bought the 40 million or so outstanding shares that they don't own (because we all own them) for a total of $60 million or so and then turn around and sell the company and its assets for several times that. They don't call Dyne the Dealmaker for nothing.

Precisely. But I think Roag's point is that the decision would have been in BD's best interest rather than ATRN's. That's probably true, and that may be what Doc is worried about. But, I'm like you, Chad -- I'm pretty convinced that this is going to work out for those willing to hold. I'm not selling a single share.

Haha, that one's tough. Maybe the BOD advised against it. Can't imagine why they would have done that.

Road, I agree it's complex. I bet the Skype deal was, too. I don't believe that the initial stock payout to BD was part of the same "deal" as the new hypothetical buyout. It certainly was part of BD's plan, but ATRN could well be insulated from being seen as complicit in that. They gave BD a sweet stock deal because they had no realistic way at the time of paying BD back in cash. They're further insulated because they have a new CEO. BD now comes back to Fong and makes a buyout offer he "can't refuse." There are lots of conditions (e.g., going dark, not posting 4th quarter financials or the 10k, etc.) but BD is in a position of power because they have a majority of shares. In this hypo, BD asks for a dark period lasting 60 days, for example, because it knows it can buy cheap shares during that time. Fong agrees because he got burned at Orchard by not making a similar agreement and having the stock price go up after initial talks were initiated.

Again, I could be wrong. But, retiring shares and not posting 4q financials, even "informally," only makes sense in my mind if they're being bought/taken private by BD.

Roag, I've been following you since I joined iHub and I have a lot of respect for you, but I disagree in this instance, for a couple of reasons. First, if ATRN wants to turn things around, there would be no reason to retire shares. I believe they've done that to limit the number of shares that have to be bought. I can't think of another reason. If they were going to continue as a going entity, they'd leave them be for insurance in case they needed liquidity. They would lose nothing by leaving those shares be. If there is another reason, I'm all ears. Also, BD can't just come through and buy multiple huge blocks without making the price jump, which they don't want. They're in no hurry. Why not let the pps tread water and buy 500,000 to a million per day if they have a few weeks to do it. If they tried to buy 3 million in a day, the price would jump. Dyne is no dummy.

I do not believe there are additional requirements. In other words, they filed upon acquiring 5 percent. There's no additional requirement that they continue to file as they accumulate additional shares (e.g., 10 percent, 25 percent, 50.1 percent). They're not technically insiders. I am convinced they've had 50.1 percent locked up for some time. All part of the plan. Now they're just getting bonus shares from folks freaked by darkness, which I'm sure they anticipated. As has been stated previously on this board, Fong learned his lesson at Orchard.

Actually, I believe that is exactly what's happening. Why on earth would BD be in any hurry to permit ATRN to go public with their offer if they can buy 500,000 shares at .06 every day without making the price per share go up? BD is making a million a day off weak hands if they're paying a pittance for shares for which they would otherwise have to pay $1. They won't be able to do it for months, as some have been speculating, because eventually (I hope) longs won't be willing to sell at these levels. As long as people are selling down here at these levels, BD has no incentive to allow ATRN to make public the details of any proposed buyout. You all should listen to DRWright when he says this will all come to light once BD has all the shares it can get for these dirt cheap prices.

Honestly, I think it's a coin flip -- 5x current share price this month for each, I think.

That depends upon whether you think that the takeover bid price would be higher or lower than the current share price. Given all of the DD posted on this board regarding the master plan of those in charge of this company (and their desire to profit off Spyder while also benefiting shareholders) I believe that the bid price would be significantly higher than the current share price. Moreover, some have suggested, based upon L2 patterns, that the company is buying back shares -- that would make sense if the company were trying to make a total bid price more attractive to stockholders (by increasing the PPS, while assuming some debt at a much lower price than would occur with a buyout at increased O/S at buyout prices) so that a buyout would be approved by the board (like it was during Mr. Fong's last venture). A higher PPS would also benefit insiders who hold a substantial amount of stock.

I believe that a buyout makes the most sense, given what we know. Notice the earlier poster who noted that the new web site took all future Atrinsic events down, which nobody followed up on but would make sense if those in the company knew that it was soon to be bought out.

By the way, I think that the chart analysis of folks like Dr. Pennystock and Claytrader are incredibly valuable in the meantime -- as I can see it, they really haven't been wrong about what this stock will do on a daily and weekly basis absent a significant intervening factor. But, I believe that such an intervening factor will occur sooner rather than later.

Dear All:

I've been following this board since early January, when I originally bought shares of ATRN. Since then, I've been intrigued by the posts from many, including (and maybe particularly) Dr. Wright, regarding the seemingly endless web of connections among the various players here. I want to add a little bit of DD to the mix. I apologize if others have already done this -- it's certain that I haven't read every single post on this board.

Nathan Fong was brought on board in November 2011, and a significant piece of his bio is that he came from a company (Orchard Enterprises) that was public and then went private. Orchard Enterprises first received a "takeover" bid from its majority stakeholder, Dimensional Associates, on or about November 2, 2009.

http://www.wikinvest.com/wikinvest/api.php?action=viewNews&aid=541908&page=Stock%3AOrchard_Enterprises_Inc_%28ORCD%29&format=html&comments=0

You'll notice in that article that, just about a month before that takeover bid, Orchard then-President and CEO Greg Scholl stepped down from his position.

This bio of Scholl indicates that, prior to his position at Orchard, Scholl was an executive at Dimensional Associates.

http://www.nbcuni.com/corporate/management/executives/nbc-owned-television-stations/greg-scholl

Looks like Mr. Fong has been down this road before...