@Spockie ... they pay lawyers and advisers $,000's per hour to...

@Spockie ... they pay lawyers and advisers $,000's per hour to sort that out for them. Search any company with SH notices and you will see there are share transfers/accumulations as a result of buying, selling, borrowing, returning, borrowing shares but not voting rights therefore no change in subst holding... etc etc. its like trying to unravel a bowl of spaghetti...but the cooks make very good sauces and they know what goes into the plate.

The shorting is a continual loop of buys and sells and borrows to keep the shorts live...so if there are 100,000,000 shorts, it means there are 100,000,000 more shares sold that would otherwise have been the case. So they have to borrow these shares so they can sell them. At some stage they have to buy them back. Then short some more to maintain or increase (or decrease) the quantum of shorts...by borrowing some more. I suspect the only real money that changes hands for a lot of these is the "fee" for services and the stock itself goes around and around the merry go round.
My opinion only. There is a lot more to it - more than my capacity to comprehend. But this simplistic view is enough for me to give me an idea of what goes on.