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
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation has recently re-approved the draft amendment to the Israeli Companies Law. The aim of this amendment is to improve the corporate governance rules applicable to companies with no...more
In this paper, Seven Gaping Holes in Our Knowledge of Corporate Governance, from the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford, the authors observe that it “is extremely difficult to produce high-quality, fundamental...more
In December 2021, the Bermuda Monetary Authority (the “BMA”) issued a consultation paper proposing revisions to the Insurance Code of Conduct dated July 2015. On Friday, 28 August 2022 the BMA posted further and final...more
The Delaware Supreme Court recently affirmed a Court of Chancery ruling granting a Special Litigation Committee’s motion to terminate a shareholder derivative action that had survived a motion to dismiss. The split decision...more
In re Kraft Heinz Company Derivative Litigation addresses demand futility in a case involving an insider stock sale. 3G Capital, Inc., a 24.2 percent shareholder in Kraft Heinz, sold 7 percent of its stake in August 2018...more
In our November 2, 2021 blog post, we highlighted a number of considerations for the 2022 proxy season. Based on recent developments, the following are some additional items...more
As we head into a new proxy season, this SEC order involving settled charges against Leaf Group Ltd. might be a good case to keep in mind. In this case, the SEC charged that Leaf did not adequately identify and analyze—and...more
On August 19, 2021, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) filed an immediately effective rule change (Rule Proposal) restoring a transaction value and materiality threshold for related party transactions that require independent...more
Board Decision Making in a Down Cycle - The last several months have been unprecedented in terms of how quickly and drastically business environments have changed. With widespread uncertainty and financial distress...more
The dawn of a new decade brings with it the certainty of ongoing challenges to the conduct of public company directors based on alleged breaches of fiduciary duty. This note is a brief reminder for directors of Delaware...more
On November 11, 2019, Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. (“ISS”) published its proxy voting guidelines updates (the “2020 Updates”) for the 2020 proxy season, effective for meetings on or after February 1, 2020. The...more
Old and In the Way? A recent study by four professors (Ronald W. Masulis, Cong Wang, Fei Xie & Shuran Zhang) finds quite a few faults with older directors...more
On September 27, 2018, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged Elon Musk, the Chairman and CEO of Tesla, Inc., a publically-traded California-based technology company that specializes in electric...more
Delaware law provides important tools for directors to maintain control of derivative lawsuits.1 One such tool is the “demand requirement” embodied in Court of Chancery Rule 23.1, which requires that before a stockholder acts...more
Significant changes in Delaware merger litigation and settlement practice in 2016, as well as noteworthy case law developments and trends, will continue to affect merger parties and litigants in 2017 and beyond....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Delaware Supreme Court recently reversed the dismissal of a derivative complaint for failure to plead demand excusal because it found that certain directors of Zynga Inc. were not independent due to...more
On November 16, 2016, Skadden hosted a webinar titled “Preparing for the Shareholder Proposal Season.” The panelists were Amy Borrus, deputy director of the Council of Institutional Investors (CII); Skadden M&A and corporate...more
Effective August 1, 2016, companies listed on Nasdaq are subject to a new rule requiring annual disclosure of the material terms of agreements or arrangements between directors or director nominees and third parties that...more
In a recent speech, SEC Chair Mary Jo White discussed the current role of mutual fund directors and what the SEC expects of them going forward. The Role of Independent Directors in Assessing Risk - In remarks at the...more
A Maryland appellate court has ruled that a demand refusal by an entire board, consisting of a majority of disinterested and independent directors who chose not to appoint a special litigation committee, is entitled to the...more
In derivative suits, cases are essentially lost and won at the motion to dismiss stage. Unless the defendants succeed in winning dismissal, they must confront an unhappy choice between continued litigation with all of its...more