I contend they could get many more on the open market if they upped the ante to $5. Look at the volume today. And what a pittance that would be when the white knight says 'let's start at $5 billion'.

Not really a pittance, actually. I know we decided to let this dog, lie, but I thought I'd give it another poke to see if it would hunt.

I think the bid stack is thin enough that you won't see 20MM shares between $4 and $5. But let's assume it does. Assuming constant share structure, and that the eventual price/share is $25, the difference between pulling in 30% of the company at $4 vs $5/share is ~$70MM. I'm sure even Ned wouldn't mind having that in his pocket vs. someone else's.