This is the thing that totally baffles me. If you own shares of the company and they are worth reasonable ( say 40-100k ) amount and you are not someone who has

This is the thing that totally baffles me. If you own shares of the company and they are worth reasonable ( say 40-100k ) amount and you are not someone who has no money in a bank (which is the only time when you should be banking on those 40-100k extra compensation) , and you are being screwed in a buyout you have all the leverage your need: it is spelled lawsuit. Lawsuits throw a monkey wrench into liabilities section so the company has all kinds of intensives to make them go away.