News & Analysis as of

Conflicts of Interest Controlling Stockholders

Mayer Brown

Delaware Law Alert: A Step-by-Step Approach for Boards Evaluating Conflicted Director, Officer, and Controlling Stockholder...

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In perhaps one of the most significant revisions to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL), on March 25, 2025, the governor signed into law amendments overhauling much of the state’s law relating to conflicted...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Delaware Amendments Provide Clarity on Conflicted Transactions and Books and Records Requests

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Delaware amended the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) to create safe harbors for transactions involving directors, officers and controlling stockholders and to limit both the documents subject to and the purposes...more

Goodwin

Delaware Creates More Corporate Clarity and Overhauls Rules Governing Conflicted Transactions

Goodwin on

In February 2025, the Delaware General Assembly introduced legislation to significantly amend Section 144 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) to improve the legal framework surrounding transactions involving...more

BCLP

Delaware Adopts Safe Harbors for Conflicted Transactions and Narrows Right of Stockholders to Demand Books and Records

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The safe harbors provide protection against claims for equitable relief or damages, subject to certain limitations, as described below. The amendments became effective immediately for all acts and transactions, whether...more

Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A.

The New and Improved Delaware General Corporation Law: What You Need to Know

On March 25, 2025, Delaware Governor Matt Meyer signed into law significant amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) that are designed to reduce excessive stockholder litigation and reinforce the authority of...more

Conyers

Why Corporations Looking to Move from Delaware Should Consider Redomiciling to Bermuda: A Legal Perspective

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Recent decisions in the Delaware courts have prompted many corporate groups to re-evaluate if Delaware is the best domicile for their operations. Delaware has been the first choice US jurisdiction for incorporating corporate...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Recent Developments for Directors - August 2024

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Last month, the SEC announced another enforcement action emphasizing the need for early disclosure of cybersecurity events. In the recent action, the company had taken three weeks to act on internal alerts of malware on its...more

Lathrop GPM

Delaware Supreme Court Clarifies Standard of Review for Conflicted Stockholder Transactions with In re Match Group Opinion

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On April 4, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court issued its opinion in In re Match Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation, clarifying that the heightened entire fairness standard of review applies to judicial review of any transaction...more

Goodwin

Delaware Court of Chancery Rescinds Elon Musk’s $55.8 Billion Compensation Package in Cautionary Tale About Director Independence...

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On January 30, 2024, the Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery struck down the $55.8 billion compensation plan that Tesla, Inc.’s board of directors had granted to Tesla’s well-known CEO, Elon Musk, finding that the...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Delaware Court Holds that SPAC Sponsor’s “Founder Shares” Created a Conflict of Interest with Public Stockholders

In 2021, there were 613 initial public offerings (“IPOs”) of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”), after 248 SPACs went public in 2020 and 59 in 2019. Prior to 2021, there had not been more than 500 IPOs of any...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Rejects Inadequate Disclosure Contentions and Grants Corwin Dismissal

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Kihm v. Mott, C.A. No. 2020-0938-MTZ (Del. Ch. Aug. 31, 2021) - Under the Corwin doctrine, a fully informed and uncoerced approval of a board decision by the corporation’s disinterested stockholders can downgrade an...more

Goodwin

SCOTUS Vacates Class Certification In Suit Against Goldman Sachs And Clarifies Appropriate Scope Of Price Impact Evidence

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SCOTUS Vacates Class Certification In Suit Against Goldman Sachs And Clarifies Appropriate Scope Of Price Impact Evidence; Stockholders Strike $110 Million Settlement In Suit Alleging Breaches Of Fiduciary Duties By Former...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Key Developments in Delaware Corporation Law

Consistent with trends in recent years, in 2019 Delaware corporation law largely was shaped by post-closing suits for money damages against directors who had approved mergers and acquisitions. Two Delaware Supreme Court...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Insights: The Delaware Edition - November 2019

This issue focuses on important, developing areas of Delaware corporation law and deal litigation, including recent trends in Delaware corporate disclosure law, the Delaware Supreme Court’s important ruling in Marchand v....more

Dechert LLP

Electricity in the Air: Court Decides that Stockholder Ratification Not Enough to Insulate Tesla CEO’s $55.8 Billion Compensation...

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The Delaware Chancery Court rejected an attempt by Tesla’s Board of Directors to dismiss a challenge to CEO Elon Musk’s “extraordinary” 2018 compensation package. Because Musk is also Tesla’s controlling stockholder, the...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Hong Kong Regulatory Update - July 2019

This edition provides an overview of key regulatory developments in the past three months relevant to companies listed, or planning to list, on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKEx), and their advisers. In...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Examining Corwin: Latest Trends and Results

The Delaware Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC1 fashioned a powerful defense in post-closing money damages cases for boards of directors by finding that business judgment deference applies...more

Dechert LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Clarifies When “Substantive Economic Negotiations” Begin under MFW Framework

Dechert LLP on

In the latest Delaware decision to expound MFW and the structuring of controller transactions, the Delaware Supreme Court clarified the requirement for a controlling stockholder to condition its offer “up front” on MFW’s dual...more

A&O Shearman

Finding That The Implied Covenant Of Good Faith And Fair Dealing Could Not Import Revlon-Type Duties, Delaware Supreme Court...

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On September 20, 2018, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing brought against the controlling unitholder and its affiliates on the board...more

Morris James LLP

Court Of Chancery Applies Corwin And Test For Control

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Peter Van Der Fluit v. Yates, C.A. No. 12553-VCMR (Nov. 30, 2017) - Briefly, under Corwin, the informed vote of a majority of the disinterested stockholders subjects a transaction to the business judgment rule when the...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Court of Chancery Confirms MFW Applies to Controlled-Company Sale With Disparate Consideration

In 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp., 88 A.3d 635 (MFW II), that the business judgment rule would apply to controlling stockholder “squeeze-out” mergers if the transaction is conditioned...more

Perkins Coie

In re Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Stockholder Litigation: MFW Provides Recipe for Protecting One-Sided Controller...

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In its opinion in In re Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Stockholder Litigation,[1] issued in August 2017, the Delaware Chancery Court addressed a question left open under Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp.[2] (MFW)—namely,...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Chancery Court Provides Lessons on Conflicts of Interest in a Sales Process – Holds Only Financial Advisor Open to Liability

In an October 1st decision (In re Zale Corporation), the Delaware Chancery Court dismissed claims that Zale Corporation’s directors breached their fiduciary duties in connection with Zale’s agreement to merge with Signet. ...more

Bracewell LLP

Delaware Court Holds Interested Directors Liable for "Fairer Price" In Going Private Transaction

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In one of the largest ever M&A-related recoveries for shareholders, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster ordered Dole Food Company, Inc.’s Chairman and CEO, David Murdock, and Dole’s former President, COO and General Counsel, C....more

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