When they opened that illegal amount of short positions the stock was under $2 and the company was headed for bankruptcy. Now through retail pressure it's been bouncing between around $40 and $400 for over a year now. Also they used to have plants in the management like a CFO who had a history of running companies into the ground, he was one of the first that the new Chairman got rid of. So at the time it was a sure bet for them but they've been caught with both hands stuck in the cookie jar and are calling in every favor they have to survive another day and try to demoralize retail into leaving.