Do you even know what a W-9 is for?
A W-9 is requested when a company pays another entity in a cash distribution. It's used to request a taxpayer ID number - in part for a future 1099 if required (if the total annual payments are over $600), and in part to determine if the recipient is subject to backup withholding for unpaid taxes on dividends.
So, by asking for a W-9, they're covering their bases as a matter of good planning and forethought in the event cash from the waterfall hits equity, which incidentally might also be interpreted as a dividend, and so they can properly fill out 1099s and/or withhold taxes for payments made to entities which are subject to backup withholding.
Jumping to the conclusion that somehow by asking for a W-9 it provides evidence that there must be a super secret club where a cash offer from a 3rd party was planned and agreed on well before the voting was complete (remember, they asked for W-9s with the ballots) and that all the brokers are in on the plan, but the general public doesn't have any clue about it... it's not even worth finishing the sentence, it's so ludicrous.
Standard, normal, run-of-the-mill scenario here. Nothing unusual about this at all. W-9s are a non-issue.
Hell, I get requests for W-9s from some clients of mine who only pay for a 1-hour consult, even though my invoice doesn't hit $600 and they don't plan on using my services again that year. But I suppose that could really mean that they're planning on buying my company, right?
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