Bryant Riley — B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY), chairman, co-CEO, co-founder and largest shareholder, offered to acquire the company for $7 per share, the company’s board of directors said in a filing with the SEC on Friday.

B. Riley (RILY) Stock increased by 25% in premarket trading. Since the close of trading last Friday, the investment firm’s stock has plummeted by 70%, after announced a major indictment related to some of its investments, a delay in filing its Q2 reports and the suspension of its dividend. Meanwhile, a media report revealed an extension probe by the US authorities regarding whether the company had properly disclosed the risks associated with some of its assets.

While the price of $7 per share is 55% higher than the 52-week low of $4.51 the stock hit on Thursday, it is 86% lower than its 52-week high of $52.74.

Bryant Riley owns 6.84 million shares, or 22.6%, of B. Riley’s (RILY) common stock and indirectly owns 0.6% more.

“As a result of his ownership interests in the Company, Mr. Riley exercises significant influence and control over the Company’s business practices and strategy, as well as all matters requiring action by the Company’s shareholders, including the election of the Company’s entire board of directors and the ability as a shareholder to unilaterally approve or disapprove strategic or other corporate transactions,” the company said in a statement.

In a letter to the board, Riley stated, “The current public company paradigm forces us to focus on short-term goals and spend unnecessary attention and time on stakeholders who are not on the side of the company’s owners.” Therefore, he believes that taking the company private would benefit the company, its customers and its employees.

He said he did not intend to complete the proposed transaction without the approval of a special committee that he expected to be established by the board.

He said the company would continue to report financial information to the SEC and its bonds and preferred stock would continue to trade publicly. “It is possible that I may continue to be listed on a secondary exchange if there are shareholders who wish to participate in this transaction,” he said in the letter.

The completion of the planned transaction depends on the approval of the “majority of minority shareholders,” he said.