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
Virgin Media's Lawyer on Liberty Global Deal
Stockholders of Delaware corporations for many years have had the right to examine stock ledgers, stockholder lists and “books and records” for a “proper purpose” under Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. ...more
On March 25, 2025, significant amendments to the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the DGCL), intended to provide greater certainty to transaction planners in light of recent Delaware case law developments,...more
As discussed in Foley’s Corporate Governance Update last month, SB 21: Delaware Responds In The DExit Battle, the Delaware legislature has been moving quickly to ensure that Delaware remains the preeminent home of choice for...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 March 25, 2025, the Delaware General Assembly enacted amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law (the DGCL and such amendments, the DGCL Amendments), which were subsequently signed into law by the governor of...more
Last week, the Delaware Governor signed a bill amending Section 144 of Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) to create a safe harbor from litigation for transactions between corporations and their controlling...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 West Palm Beach Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Moelis & Company, the Delaware Court of Chancery invalidated a set of approval rights contained in a stockholder agreement as facially in conflict with Section 141(a) of the...more
On February 23, 2024, a decision by Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster in the Delaware Chancery Court invalidated parts of a shareholder agreement between Moelis & Company and its Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and founder,...more
On February 23, 2024, Vice Chancellor Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued his 131-page decision in West Palm Beach Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Moelis & Co., No. 2023-0309-JTL. The case involved a...more
On February 23, 2024, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a decision concluding that some provisions of a stockholder agreement purporting to give a large stockholder various governance...more
Professor Stephen Bainbridge recently commented on a decision by Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster finding that Section 141(a) of the Delaware General Corporation Law trumps most of the provisions of a so-called "new wave"...more
We’ve all read countless headlines and articles about the removal and swift return of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI over the past several weeks. Simply put, the nonprofit board voted to remove Altman as a result of a...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
UCLA Law Professor Stephen Bainbridge recently answered the question of whether shareholders may remove a corporation's chief executive officer and chairman of the board from a Delaware perspective. Like Delaware, California...more
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
Earlier today, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an important ruling concluding that two companies with multiple classes of common stock were not required, under the Delaware statute,...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
During an M&A process, the seller and its stockholders may consider whether it would be beneficial to exercise any drag-along rights under its stockholder agreements or equity plans. Drag-along rights generally allow a subset...more
Corporate books and records demands are on the rise. And as the Delaware courts have made it easier for shareholders to demonstrate a proper purpose to seek inspection, corporations increasingly must defend these actions by...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 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