WDC can't touch it mate.. They'd be so wrapped up in anti-trust...

WDC can't touch it mate.. They'd be so wrapped up in anti-trust lawsuits it would spin the world upside down.
Think about it.

OOORRRR

They release all the metrics and everyone in the world knows exactly what we have and it goes to auction. Nobody knows what the tech is worth right now and nobody is putting in offers. Once the industry (and shareholders) know, it will have an industrial value and the SP will rise to meet within .001% of the MV being moved.

Let's imagine WDC makes an offer of .50usd/share and the BOD tells us "guys, we believe the company is worth at least XXX$ and we suggest you vote no", the shareholders will inevitably vote NO. I've seen it a million times. As soon as the market re-opened, the SP would instantly hit close to usd $XXX/SO once the locked in sellers were exhausted.

Tender offers only apply to sinking revenue companies and not IP/research companies. That would be a first for me.

This whole cloak and dagger thing you describe is not the real world; I've been trading for decades.

So let's say WDC doesn't like the price and the technology goes to auction, it won't ONLY be WDC having a place at the auctioneers pulpit. Do you think Toshiba, Samsung, Intel, et al are going to just sit back and let it go for nothing?

The market is driven by disclosure and when the market is driven by disclosure to only those on the inside, it's called insider trading and is HUGELY illegal. The market drives itself and the absolute second we have confirmation of metrics, the buyers will drive that price to where industry believes that price rests (or very close to it).

This talk of hostile takeovers of a company that has nothing to offer and no information to share is like nails on a chalkboard.