Asking Mr. Google gave: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/05/publictoprivate.asp . . . The process of making a public company private is relatively simple and involves far fewer regulatory hurdles than the private to public transition. At the most basic level, the private group will make an offer to the company and its shareholders. The offer will stipulate the price the group is willing to pay for the company's shares. Once the majority of the voting shares have voted to accept the offer, shares of the company are sold to the private bidder, and the company becomes privately held. The biggest obstacle in this process is getting the acceptance of a company's shareholders, the majority of which need to accept the offer in order for the transition to be completed. If the deal is accepted by the shareholders, the company's buyer will pay a consenting group of shareholders the purchase price for each share they own. For example, if a shareholder owns 100 shares and the buyer offers $26 per share, the shareholder will receive $2,600 and relinquish his or her shares. There is a large benefit to this type of transaction for investors, as the private group usually offers a substantial premium for the shares compared to the current market value of the firm. . . . One interpretation is all stocks, even those volunteered, are replaced with the cash equivalent of the offer. Yet Elon proposes existing employees and owners may keep the privately held stocks. An involuntary conversion of brokerage held stocks will mean the 'borrowed stocks' risk becoming non-existent. Worse, privately held shares may no longer be for sale outside of the private owners. This makes covering the borrowed shares difficult. This may be the way the 'margins' of the stock shorters get wiped. Source: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/short.asp . . . If a short position is losing money, the trader may be asked/required to put up more capital to cover the loss. In other words, the loss is not allowed to mount indefinitely. Being asked to put up more capital to cover the losses on a position is a margin call. Bob Wilson
