[specialp]

Yes but there's a counter to this and limit that is not there on the long side: Remember stocks are ownership in a company. If a load of "predatory shorts" jumped on and drove the market value of a company way below of where it should be, I could jump in with sufficient money and make a tender offer. Then I'd own a real company with real assets for a fraction of the cost and take it private. And the shorts would have to cover their shares.

There's no such reality check with things going up on the long side as we see from Gamestop. Someone can't step in and cash out on the company at a ridiculously high price compared to fundamentals. It is only driven by the market. In general short sellers are vilified more than warranted. If you are long on a good company you should applaud them because after all, they now have to buy back at some point. People view it as if you are some villain going against what is right (shares just going up and everyone gets rich). Stocks that go down with high short interest are almost always going down because they are bad companies, not due to short sales.

[mlrtime]

An offer to buy the entire company would be information leakage and the price would rise.