Here's my longtime fave BBBY end-game hypothesis, one with a fair amount of humiliation for the fraudsters and SHFs:
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After all the legal effort, BBBaby is carved out or spun off;
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Former BBBY shareholders are given shares in the new BBBaby (holding) company, as a bonus for going through hell the past 6 months;
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Former BBBY shareholders also receive $ from any legal settlements related to BBBY fraud investigations;
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BBBY shareholders retain shares in the old company as well;
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CUSIP and/or Ticker is maintained, so shorts are forced by the court to close, buying up shares in an empty shell company in order to close billions of short positions, closely watched by the SEC. BBBY price skyrockets; shareholders sell shares in the old entity at their leisure, then the price seems satisfactory.
New company and GS are well clear of the media noise and lamentations of the SHFs.
This theory has the poetic justice that I see in other elements of this play (GameSTOP, Bed Bath & BEYOND, etc). This sequence would really underline the BEYOND in Bed Bath and Beyond, and meet RC's primary goal of delighting customers (in this case, diamond-handed shareholders).
Whaddya think? Could it happen? Why or why not?
Although it'd be poetic justice & would force the general public into awareness of the fraud at play, we have to assume anything which happens must be of service to the new company - they won't just give away equity as a gesture of goodwill. A credit bid or legal decree could catalyze a chain reaction which leads to a black swan event, but anything outside of "business justification" or precedent will present a legal (or legislative) liability; IE, a loophole to shutdown the ensuing madness.
The ongoing fraud investigation presents a massive "undo" button for this entire mess, though. If fraud is determined to be a cause of BBBY's bankruptcy then something vaguely resembling what you describe is possible. Until then, I'd assume redemption would only come in the format of a credit bid or legal settlement, because as of now BBBY/Q shares are extinguished & dk-butterfly is a legal entity of the bankruptcy process.
Everything is speculation & we simply don't have all the info yet - there are too many positive indications, unanswered questions & seemingly nonsensical factors for this NOT to be significant. Hell, it appears even the big boys like JPM & whoever has Gasparino by the sack is clouded in confusion too. Those who know are battling major players and likely have obfuscated as much as possible, deployed red herrings, and proxied tactical elements through multiple layers - one mis-step and their play may be in jeopardy. All we need to do is relax, not get too invested in one particular theory (of many), and let the titans battle this out.