In recent months, a conversation has emerged as to whether Delaware should remain the favored state of incorporation for business entities. Indeed, many of our clients have asked us whether they should remain in Delaware or...more
4/24/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
California ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Officers ,
Delaware ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Franchise Taxes ,
Nevada ,
Popular ,
Shareholders ,
Texas
On February 20, 2024, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an opinion refusing to dismiss stockholder claims challenging the reincorporation of TripAdvisor from Delaware to Nevada and...more
Join the Wilson Sonsini AI and Corporate Governance teams and prominent legal scholar and Harvard Law professor, Noah Feldman, for a webinar exploring the key considerations for AI companies and how they are governed....more
On June 27, 2023, Vice Chancellor Lori Will of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a much-anticipated decision addressing the obligations of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company (Disney) in overseeing Disney’s...more
6/30/2023
/ Board of Directors ,
Books & Records ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Disney ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Florida ,
Gay Rights ,
Governor DeSantis ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery recently issued a decision addressing whether a covenant not to sue set forth in a stockholders’ agreement is enforceable under Delaware law, with the result...more
On March 15, 2023, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a rare post-trial decision finding a CEO personally liable for millions of dollars in damages for breaching his fiduciary...more
On July 29, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a noteworthy decision confirming the broad application of the "MFW" framework—based on the Delaware Supreme Court's decision in Kahn v. M & F Worldwide Corp., 88 A.3d 635...more
On November 17, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted rules that will require the use of a single "universal" proxy card in connection with most contested elections of directors. These rules, which have...more
COVID-19 continues to impact companies financially, operationally, and strategically. Confronting unprecedented levels of volatility and stock price declines, and the potential for a painful economic contraction, has many...more
4/1/2020
/ Affiliated-Business Arrangements ,
Board of Directors ,
Business Interruption ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Economic Injury Disaster Loans ,
Employee Retention ,
Federal Loans ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Payroll Taxes ,
Relief Measures ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
Shareholders ,
Small Business ,
Stocks ,
Tax Relief
As we previously discussed, on September 30, 2018, former California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation intended to ensure that public companies headquartered in California have at least one female director. This...more
In a 137-page post-trial opinion, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that an activist stockholder of PLX Technology (PLX) had acted through a principal who served on the PLX board of...more
10/25/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Activist Investors ,
Aiding and Abetting ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Mergers ,
Sale of Assets ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
Two courts recently issued significant corporate law decisions that are meaningful for corporations and investors navigating an M&A transaction or a proxy contest. Interestingly, both decisions arose outside of Delaware,...more
5/11/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Board of Directors ,
Bylaws ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Proxy Contests ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Xerox
On November 13, 2017, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a short but potentially important opinion in Jack Wilkinson v. A. Schulman, Inc., an action to inspect books and records brought under Section 220 of the Delaware...more
On December 19, 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court, in C&J Energy Services, Inc. v. City of Miami General Employees' & Sanitation Employees' Retirement Trust, issued a strongly worded decision refusing to enjoin a change of...more
The Comptroller of the City of New York, who oversees pension funds with a combined $160 billion in assets, recently submitted proxy access shareholder proposals at 75 U.S. public companies as part of its Boardroom...more
A topic of considerable controversy within the corporate community over the past two months has been the possibility of adopting a "fee-shifting" provision in the bylaws of Delaware corporations. Depending on how it is...more
On May 8, 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court provided an en banc answer to a certified question of law from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware captioned ATP Tour, Inc. v. Deutscher Tennis Bund, concluding that...more
In Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp, the Delaware Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the Court of Chancery's 2013 decision that a going-private merger with a controlling stockholder may be subject to the deferential business...more
In a much-anticipated, 91-page post-trial opinion issued on March 7, 2014, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery held in In re Rural Metro Corporation Stockholders Litigation that the lead...more