<<If a shareholders tenders his shares in a tender offer, he gets paid when the tender is no longer revocable.>>
Right, and my point is that at least for BMY - AMLN, that date was also the effective date of the merger. Holding off tendering would have accomplished nothing, the shareholder tendering early and the shareholder tendering late and the shareholder not tendering all get paid or converted into the right to receive cash on the effective date, which is the date the offer was no longer revocable.