CP: I fear your #2 scenario.
This company's management has never been retail SH friendly. I don't believe we figure into any of their options going forward. I was around for the 1:10 RS (I think it was 1:10; I know I had 40,000 shares built up, they were reduced to a fraction of that number, and then we got shorted into the pits of hell). I was here when, at one of the quarterly conferences years ago, the CEO (not the present one -- I don't think) was asked about the corruption of SH value and he actually laughed. As I've grown into my Senior years holding this company's stock, my memory is fading; but those incidents remain crystal clear.
The #2 scenario frightens me because your last sentence under scenario #2 reads: "I don't see this option 2 as a real possibility because it would imply that while BoD works for share value they also decided the faith of the deal up-front without consulting SHs." THAT assumption would be difficult to demonstrate.
I'm here for the science and what it should produce in terms of share price; but I've always worried that, in the end, the retail SH somehow will be shafted.
If you could relieve that fear (not eliminate it -- just relieve it), I'd be grateful.