Titanfall 2 was fun. I don't get why they cancelled the third one.

One thing is fiduciary duty to the shareholders, another is “pleasing the shareholders” as you describe it. Pleasing the shareholders is necessary only when displeasing them means they will sell the stock when there is no buyer. If there is a buyer, the current shareholders are less relevant — as long as management cannot be accused of not fulfilling their fiduciary duty to them.

With public companies more or less the only thing that shareholders can complain about in terms of the company being taken private is if the price is unfair (in which case they can sue). Otherwise the only thing that the entity buying needs is the consent of the board and a majority shareholder vote, whether by buying a controlling share themselves on the open market or by negotiating with them. Usually the private buyer offers a price higher than the current public market cap to incentivize the shareholders to vote for a sale.

(And yes, this means that in practice there is a compelled sale of some fraction of the stock at whatever price the majority agrees to)