[1] It was created and left with no activity – metaphorically put on the "shelf" to "age".
A corporation might end up "on the shelf" precisely because of a bad business history.
A Reuters report described Wyoming Corporate Services as an example of a vendor of shelf companies, which were literally stored in mailboxes labelled as "corporate suites" in the main room of a 1,700-square-foot (160 m2) brick house a few blocks from the Wyoming State Capitol.
It is one of scores of similar businesses setting up shop, primarily in Delaware, Wyoming, and Nevada due to regulatory considerations.
So the opposition bought the rights to newspapers founded before 1822 and since closed, and resumed printing them.