1) no one is “spinning” the $3m. People are speculating as much as you are speculating that it is “meaningless”.
2) the notion that they are intentionally delaying is ludicrous. It takes a long time for these applications to happen. Absent huge funds and massive redundancies in terms of labor, and even then, you can’t rush it, I doubt you’d see this happen faster;
3) more frequently what you see at this stage is a massive partnership or buyout, and most shareholders lost interest once they have been paid out and don’t care about the timeline and waiting. They at some point hear it was approved, maybe, or maybe even not.