Matt said in the future 700k for a region might be cheap. :) And he seems the cool-headed guy between the founders.
EDIT: About backroom deals to buy controlling stake in Hive, chances are, the more stakeholders anyone who would attempt this will have to contact for this, the likelier it becomes someone will talk and let the community know what's going on, so they can prepare and react. To me that sounds like mission impossible through backroom deals. Only through the market.