Don't know to which jurisdiction smyte belongs, but in many countries creating figureheads/companies, dumping them, firing all employees and then buying the leftovers and rehiring people is considered the same a acquiring the company. E.g. finding ways around laws does not make them invalid and (sometimes, not always) you have to follow them anyway.

But if it is all within the states, it could be just that.

> If eg smyte was out of money, this is plausible. And all of a sudden no-one was there to run the old corp.

Sound more like a tech/knowledge acquisition to me.

4M$ for 23 employees only works if you have proper financial management though.