Seems to me that if someone buys Steemit Inc, they are now the employers of the developers of the blockchain.

Of course, the witnesses can refuse to run some new code if they don't like it, and maybe even fork. But practically, a new owner of Steemit means the ability to release legitimate new versions of the Steem software.

Who knows how well that will go. In my experience, Steem witnesses seem much more interested in "proprietary" chain-specific minutiae that matter to a dozen people than the types of things I speculate any of Steemit's new owners might be interested in.

It will be interesting to see.