No matter what he says, it is no less opinion than anyone else's view. Many here like to speculate about takeover because that's the language that was explicitly written into filings, not because they have a ringing batphone. His friends shared an opinion - to suggest that they would Know with a capital K is absurd, no matter how high up the food chain they are.
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formerly cloud8, but I'm much farther from cloud9 at this point.