The real question you have to ask is if anyone els

The real question you have to ask is if anyone else verified that the O/S was increased to 3.4 billion in the first place? Did we all just trust the bashing pirates words or did we call, I didn't? If someone verified that the O/S was increased to 3.4, then we can ask why it was reduced. Considering you can lie on ihub, It'd made sense for him to make it up. It would have also worked in his favor if it then magically was reduced, however, it was never increased in the first place.

I doubt shares were retired or a buyback occurred, it would have probably been milestone or similar shares for someone that were retired.