The only thing I can think of is to shake out as many shareholders as they can. But then again, who bought all the shares yesterday? A bunch of flippers most likely.
In hindsight that guy @777Echo777 on twitter that created and administrated the PLPL telegram chat got into an argument with someone in the chat a good 5 hours or so before the news of the planned reverse split was released.
He had always been bullish but that day all of a sudden kept ranting about the share structure being an issue and said he sold and his members were still in it. He posted a screenshot of what appeared to be a whatsapp convo with Ken Patel with most crossed out of the image aside for pleasantries. He then alluded to the conversation going into more detail but didn't say what. After that he deleted ALL of the messages in the chat and then a bit later deleted the entire chat.
It wasn't until reading your message that I realized he might have sold, gone bearish, and deleted everything showing his direct contact with Ken because he had advance notice of the reverse split. Not saying he certainly did but it was odd for all that to occur on the eve of the announcement.