No kids, no wife, no family members to pass on ownership of the shares. What else should happen to them? The company recognizes that over 9 billion O/S shares is ridiculous and not a sustainable structure for being taken seriously among large investors and institutions, so if we have an opportunity to retire nearly 1 billion shares without anyone losing money, why wouldn't we?

Another thing to consider is that Baltia's market cap will technically remain constant and correct itself for any retired shares, so if we're worth $50 million and 10% of the O/S is retired, each of us will gain about 10% in the value of our investment after the price correction. Who wouldn't want that?