  From the results of numerical scattering experiments and simulations of a
massive black hole binary in spherically symmetric and shallow cores it has
been deduced that most likely the shrinking process stalls due to loss-cone
depletion before emission of gravitational radiation becomes important. Here we
follow a different approach and focus on the population of stars which is bound
to the binary and so far has not received much attention. With simple
assumptions which should not be sensitive to initial conditions we derive a
lower limit for the mass of stars which needs to be ejected by the binary in
order to coalesce. We also compute this mass in dependence on the steepness of
the density profile according to which the stars are distributed. Our results
are not as pessimistic as earlier conclusions and actually suggest that the BHs
merge.
