Before going into this topic, I do want to point out that Steemit, Inc is a private company that is different from Steem. How many times has it been pointed out that Steemit is not Steem? Holding STEEM means ones has a stake in the Steem blockchain but give one zero holding in Steemit.
Thus, like any private company, 
This was followed up by Ned's response.
I feel that both parties are within their rights here. It was a reasonable request that
So what is Ned hiding?
Many jumped to the idea that Steemit Inc is going bankrupt. There is no evidence of that and the recent moves actually could be counter to that. More often then not, when companies lay off staff and restructure, it makes them a stronger company. This is why stock prices jump when public companies announce large scale layoffs. It is an immediate savings.
Of course, without seeing the records, there is no way to know. Ned might not be hiding anything. Financial privacy is often something that companies maintain. It is one of their reasons for remaining private as opposed to going public.
This does bring up a much larger point that 
https://busy.org/@taskmaster4450/it-is-time-to-stop-using-steemit-com
My reasoning for this article was simple. We need to make Steemit a smaller part of our lives. It is obvious they had too much control, something they could not handle. There are other front ends that do it better and are worthy of the support.
Decentralization is the key. The entire reason for blockchain is to avoid situations like this.
In the financial world, we see what is called 3rd party counter risk. This was most evident in the MBS situation a decade ago. These assets were "insured" by AIG who issued CDO. The problem was the CDOs were worthless since AIG was insolvent.
That is what 3rd party counter risk is. There is a risk associated in dealing with another entity. It means having to trust the solvency (sound familiar) of an entity.
Steemians are now forced to take on the risk posed by Steemit. Whether by plan or simply the fact that the community sat back, we see where the ecosystem is exposed.
As was posted, this is an opportunity. It is good that this came to light now. The community has the opportunity to address these issues and push for more decentralization. It is something we all should be doing at every level. While most of us are not developers, something as simple as switching the interface we use is a step in the right direction.
The fact that Steemit has so much in the way of STEEM could be problematic. Could they dump and completely destroy the ecosystem? It is possible. although something I do not think likely. If they did dump, that would be a long term benefit to the ecosystem. While the price would most likely collapse, it would be a buying opportunity.
This, of course, is presuming the development side of things is spread out. As of now, we are the over the proverbial barrel. That said, if Steemit Inc did disappear, I know there are enough smart coders who would be able to take over the development of the blockchain. Again, as
Therefore, I am not going to conclude Ned is hiding something because I do not know. The truth is that most reading these words would probably do the same thing if in his shoes. Most people are not publicly offering up information about their own or their company's financial status.
That said, I am not going to stop pushing the decentralization aspect of things. It is unhealthy for the ecosystem to be so dependent upon Steemit. It is time to take the next step and have other options within the platform. I hope this is something the Witnesses and developers on Utopian are discussing.
Steemit presenting a 3rd party counter risk to every Steemian is not how this should be.
It is time to reduce, if not eliminate, that.
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