You nailed it… the only way would be for it to return to trading. I highly doubt Jim would make each investor whole again from his own pocket. None of it makes sense.
Who says they need to be taken care of via trading?
Here's a hypothetical
If Nixon's businesses do well and does end up franchising, he can very well sell his investors a franchise at a very discounted price.
An example of this is David Beckham. When he came to play soccer in the United States, MLS gave him a deal where he would be allowed to start his own franchise for a discounted rate of $50m. Current expansion fee is approx $325m.
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