If the company is preparing for a possible hostile take-over bid, do we have one of those nifty shareholder rights plans? You know, where everyone except the 'hostile' entity gets to participate in a big issue, and which can only be waived by a decision of the B.O.D. (like FWR had).

Could this have anything to do with the reverse split? For example, if the rights plan gave shareholders another share for every one owned, there'd be around a billion shares, which does seem high.

With less than 50 million shares, exercise of a rights plan would leave the company with a more manageable share float when the dust settled.

Just my personal opinions/thoughts.