News & Analysis as of

Shareholders Mergers Board of Directors

Morris James LLP

Court of Chancery Holds Supermajority Vote Not Required for Nevada Reincorporation

Morris James LLP on

Gunderson v. The Trade Desk Inc., C.A. No. 2024-1029-PAF (Del. Ch. Nov. 6, 2024) - The board of a Delaware corporation recommended that the corporation reincorporate as a Nevada corporation subject to a majority vote...more

Hogan Lovells

No breach of fiduciary duty where directors approved merger that stripped common stock of its value

Hogan Lovells on

In Jacobs v. Akademos, the Delaware Chancery Court ruled that a cash-out merger that provided common shareholders in a privately held corporation, Akademos, Inc., with no value was nonetheless entirely fair. This decision...more

Benesch

Delaware Amends DGCL Section 144 to Add Safe Harbors for Interested and Controlling Stockholder Transactions

Benesch on

On March 25, 2025, the governor of Delaware signed into law significant changes to Section 144 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”). The changes provide safe harbors to Boards of Directors and controlling...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

SB21: Delaware Responds In The DExit Battle

Foley & Lardner LLP on

The annual DGCL amendments this year carry a little more urgency than before. SB21 was rushed through to the Delaware Senate in mid-February, bypassing the normal process that involves recommendation by the Council of the...more

Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP

OpenAI's Governance Overhaul to Prevent Hostile Takeover

Strengthening Board Control - OpenAI is exploring governance changes that would grant its nonprofit board enhanced voting rights to prevent a hostile takeover by Elon Musk. This move follows Musk’s $97.4 billion bid, which...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Delaware Proposes Significant Amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law

Fenwick & West LLP on

On February 17, 2025, Senate Bill No. 21 was introduced in the Delaware State Senate to amend the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL)....more

Allen Matkins

Nevada Bill Would Expressly Allow Directors To Approve Documents In "Preliminary Form"

Allen Matkins on

Almost one year ago, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick ruled that a board of directors of a Delaware corporation must at a "bare minimum" approve an "essentially complete" version of the merger agreement.   Sjunde...more

Cooley LLP

New Delaware bill would offer safe harbor for conflicted transactions—will it convince companies to stay put in Delaware?

Cooley LLP on

As discussed earlier this month, there has been a lot of chatter and speculation recently about companies changing their states of incorporation from Delaware to other states. In an interview with Business Insider, the new...more

Baker Botts L.L.P.

Delaware Supreme Court Confirms “Potential” Control is Not Enough to Find Actual Control

Baker Botts L.L.P. on

In an opinion late last month, the Delaware Supreme Court brought a close to the long-running shareholder litigation regarding Oracle’s 2016 purchase of NetSuite. The decision provides instruction for how significant minority...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

I Want You to Want Me. But I Don’t Need You to Need Me: Manti Holdings v. The Carlyle Group and the Meaning of Non-Ratable Benefit...

Delaware’s rigorous fairness standards for transactions involving controlling shareholders have recently come to the forefront of the Chancery Court’s docket. The Transaction...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Rejects Challenges to Sale of Company by Private Equity Controller, Assesses Transaction Under Business...

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

On January 7, 2025, Vice Chancellor Glasscock issued a 68-page post-trial decision in Manti Holdings, LLC v. The Carlyle Group Inc., in which he rejected plaintiffs’ claims of breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Insights: The Delaware Edition - December 2024

In this issue, we explore ongoing corporate law issues involving controlling stockholders, with significant decisions anticipated from the Delaware Supreme Court in 2025; the rise in litigation over earnout provisions in...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Defaulted to Deal Price to Determine the Fair Value of a Privately-Held Corporation in an Appraisal Proceeding

Morris James LLP on

Hyde Park Venture Partners Fund III, L.P. v. FairXchange, LLC, C.A. No. 2022-0344-JTL (Del. Ch. July 30, 2024) - In this post-trial appraisal decision, the Court of Chancery determined the fair value of a privately-held...more

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Breach of Fiduciary Duty Judgment Against CEO but Reverses Bidder’s Aiding and Abetting Liability

In a recent decision by the Delaware Supreme Court sitting en banc in In re Mindbody, Inc., Stockholder Litigation, the court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s determination that Mindbody’s CEO had breached his duties of...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

How Long Is Too Long? Activists Continue To Target Director Tenure

U.S. activism remained elevated through the third quarter of 2024, with board refreshment a consistent demand by activists year after year. Central to the activists’ demands for board refreshment is director tenure....more

Hogan Lovells

Q2 2024 Quarterly Corporate / M&A decisions updates

Hogan Lovells on

Below is our Corporate / M&A decisions update covering decisions in the second quarter of 2024. Decisions from the Delaware Court of Chancery this quarter included further development of the jurisprudence around the validity...more

Woodruff Sawyer

Large Derivative Suit Settlements and Your Side A D&O Insurance

Woodruff Sawyer on

Traditionally, this has been the main type of derivative suit that has resulted in large settlements. Merger and acquisition cases are common here. Examples of these types of suits include Paramount Global (CBS-Viacom merger)...more

Cooley LLP

13 Top Considerations for Tackling a Merger of Equals Transaction Like a Mastermind

Cooley LLP on

Just like the romantic union of global pop superstar Taylor Swift and Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce, in the business world, combinations of similarly sized companies – or so-called mergers of equals – can yield positive...more

Morris James LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Reverses MFW Dismissal Due to Inadequate Disclosures Regarding Special Committee’s Advisors’ Material...

Morris James LLP on

City of Sarasota Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Inovalon Holdings Inc., No. 305, 2023 (Del. May 1, 2024). The Delaware Supreme Court’s decision in Khan v. M & F Worldwide Corp. (“MFW”) established a cleansing process for a...more

Morris James LLP

Minority Stockholder Was Not a Controller Because Plaintiff Did Not Adequately Plead Actual Control of the Company’s Business...

Morris James LLP on

It is axiomatic that directors and officers of a Delaware corporation owe fiduciary duties to stockholders (and the company). Controlling stockholders also owe fiduciary duties. A stockholder is deemed a controller either...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Addresses Acquirer’s Request For Joint Tortfeasor Settlement Credit

Morris James LLP on

In re Columbia Pipeline Grp. Inc. Merger Litig., Consol. C.A. No. 2018-0484-JTL (Del. Ch. May 15, 2024) - In this post-trial decision, the Court addressed an acquirer’s responsibility for damages suffered by a stockholder...more

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Delaware Governor Signs Into Law Amendments to Delaware’s General Corporation Law

On July 17, 2024, Delaware Governor John Carney signed into law amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) from Senate Bill 313 that had sparked considerable controversy within the corporate law and governance...more

Morris James LLP

2024 Amendments to the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware Go into Effect

Morris James LLP on

The latest amendments (the “Amendments”) to the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) went into effect today, August 1, 2024, to address, among other things, (i) stockholder agreements related to corporate governance;...more

Morris James LLP

2024 Delaware General Corporation Law Amendments

Morris James LLP on

As part of the annual process of reviewing and updating the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), Delaware’s state legislature recently approved 2024 amendments. In summary, these include the following changes... ...more

Morris James LLP

Court of Chancery Dismisses Aiding And Abetting Fraud Claim Against Corporate Officers And Directors On Grounds That A Corporation...

Morris James LLP on

Urvan v. AMMO, Inc., Consol. C.A. No. 2023-0470 PRW (Del. Ch. Feb. 27, 2024, corrected Mar. 14, 2024) - It is an axiom of Delaware law that a corporation acts through its human agents. This principle informs the causes of...more

151 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 7

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide