Let me add to The speculation a bit:
Many of us have been following The recent global trend for consolidation within The WTS. The obvious question has been: Where is All The money going into?
Well, I think The OP may hint towards a possible answer: The GB is trying to put in motion a global downsizing of the staff under their direct care / payroll. There will be dozens of thousands of 'full time ministers' - Bethel Workers, Circuit And District Overseers, Special Pioneers, Missionaries - people who gave up their careers And education to serve the advance of the 'Kingdom Interests' (read: Watchtower's Interests) and now find themselves among The surplus about to be discarded by The Society. Most among these have no hope of finding a paying job, much less a carreer. They're too old for the labor market, And they still have some lenght of life to live. If the Watchtower Society would simply kick them to the curb, the outrage outcry And bad press would be enormous. What to do?
I believe The WTS has quietly been building a private fund to (as cheaply as possibly) compensate the dismissal from duty from those many thousands of redundant full time ministers. In some cases, that means acting much like a private pension fund that will provide them with a lifetime pension whenever The state / family / congregation will not provide. Surely it will be called a "loving provision from Jehovah". I'm not even surprised if at some point the remaining "full time ministers" will be regular employees of The WTS, entitled to a private pension fund provided by The Society. Perhaps in time there will be a full-time, PAID, congregational servant / overseer.
Consolitating The public editions of Watchtower And Awake magazines into one single monthly edition with a new name makes every sense from a rebranding point of view. Will we be seeing JW.ORG Magazine edited soon ?
Also, expanding The GB to 12 members will make The decision-making process quicker, because it's easier to get 2/3 (8-4) votes to unlock a decision, that to get around a 6-2 voting as it currently stands; i.e. Currently a minority of 3 can block a majority of 5; with a GB of 12 it would take a minority of 5 to block a majority of 7.
Eden
(Sorry for The poor formatting. My new Ipad is working against me)