JONES DAY TALKS®: Five Pillars of Series A Shareholder Rights: A Discussion for VC Investors
Litigation developments: fundamental shareholder rights.
JONES DAY TALKS®: ESG: The Opportunities and the Risks
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In prior posts, I have discussed some the changes that AB 239 would make to Nevada's corporate law. Last week, I testified in my individual capacity in support of the bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On Wednesday...more
In late March 2025, the Delaware General Assembly enacted, and Governor Matt Meyer signed, bipartisan legislation making significant amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL)....more
Delaware Governor Matt Meyer signed into law substantive amendments to Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (Section 220), the statute that allows stockholders of corporations organized under Delaware law to...more
On March 25, Delaware amended two (2) sections of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) in response to reports that prominent corporations are considering leaving Delaware in light of several significant court...more
On February 17, 2025, Senate Bill No. 21 was introduced in the Delaware State Senate to amend the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL)....more
Yesterday's post concerned the Delaware Supreme Court's decision that the business judgment rule applied to TripAdvisor's decision to reincorporate in Nevada. Maffei v. Palkon, 2025 WL 384054 (Del. Feb. 4, 2025). This...more
On February 23, 2024, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery invalidated a number of significant provisions in a stockholder agreement between a financial institution (the “Company”) and its...more
In a landmark decision, the Delaware Court of Chancery addressed, for the first time, the precise duties that a controlling stockholder owes, and the standard of review that will apply, when a controlling stockholder takes...more
An often overlooked and critical function of operating a successful business is sound corporate governance. But what is corporate governance? Generally stated, corporate governance encompasses the rules, mechanisms and...more
One popular theory of the corporation is that it is a nexus of contracts. As Frank Easterbrook and Daniel Fischel pithily pronounced "Corporations are enduring (relational) contracts." F. Easterbrook and D. Fischel, The...more
In an important decision addressing an issue of first impression, the Delaware Court of Chancery determined that corporate officers owe a fiduciary duty of oversight under Delaware law. The case, In re McDonald’s Corporation...more
In recent weeks, the Delaware Court of Chancery has issued two noteworthy opinions in the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) context—one related to fiduciary duties and one related to the technical question of when a...more
The Coster v. UIP Companies, Inc. decision provides a framework for evaluating stockholder disenfranchisement claims. Directors should carefully consider how, and under what conditions, they will take actions that dilute...more
David F. Johnson presented his paper “Business Divorce: Minority Shareholder Rights In Texas” to the State Bar of Texas’s Business Disputes Course on September 2-3, 2021. This presentation addressed shareholder oppression...more
Today's blog revisits (and answers) a question that I posed nearly eight years ago in this post. The question was: "Where Exactly Is It Written That Shareholders Aren't Liable For Corporate Debts?"...more
In a recent post-trial decision the Delaware Court of Chancery upheld a stockholder challenge to a “poison pill” rights plan adopted by The Williams Companies’ board of directors, declaring the plan unenforceable and issuing...more
The Background: The Delaware Chancery Court held that a board of directors breached its fiduciary duties in adopting a shareholder rights plan, or "poison pill," with an unprecedented combination of "extreme" features,...more
On Feb. 26, 2021, the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that the board of directors of The Williams Companies breached its fiduciary duties by adopting a stockholder rights plan, otherwise known as a poison pill, because the...more
The fifth of a six-part series examining six specific and evolving rights plan provisions. As discussed in greater detail in some of our prior articles, a shareholder rights plan is a protective measure used by a public...more
In Salladay v. Lev, the Delaware Chancery Court elaborated on how early a corporate board must take protective measures to shield a conflicted transaction from entire fairness review. Salladay involved a motion to dismiss a...more
In High River Ltd. P’ship v. Occidental Petroleum Corp., No. CV 2019-0403-JRS, 2019 WL 6040285 (Del. Ch. Nov. 14, 2019), the Court of Chancery of the state of Delaware recently refused to hold that Section 220 books and...more
In a recent post-trial opinion, Vice Chancellor Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an important decision regarding stockholder books and records demands under Section 220(b) of the Delaware General Corporation...more
At risk of stating the blindingly obvious, all founders of for-profit companies want their businesses to be profitable. It’s the table stakes for starting and running a business. But what if you wanted to do more?...more
Public benefit corporations, which are recognized in over 30 states, have now been adopted in Texas. The Texas public benefit corporation laws became effective on September 1, 2017. Now, businesses can incorporate in the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On February 2, 2017, the Appellate Division for the First Department in New York entered an order approving a “disclosure-only” settlement. While acknowledging the “increasingly negative view” of...more