CHAPTER 37

1. Click your mouse anywhere on the screen to advance the text in each slide. After the starburst appears, click a blue triangle to move to the next slide or previous slide. CHAPTER 37 Shareholders

2. Quote of the Day “All powers granted to a corporation are necessarily and at all times exercisable only for the ratable benefit of all the shareholders.” Adolf A. Berle, Jr, social scientist

3. Rights of Directors • Directors, not shareholders, have the right to manage the corporate business. • Inside directors -- officers in the corporation, typically control their company’s board. • Outside directors (also called independent directors) -- do not work for the company and typically have less control.

4. Rights of Shareholders • Shareholders have neither the right nor the obligation to manage the day-to-day business of the enterprise. • Right to Information • Under the Model Act, shareholders with a proper purpose have the right to inspect and copy the corporation’s minute book, accounting records, and shareholder lists. • Right to Vote • A corporation must have at least one class of stock with voting rights.

5. Shareholder Proposals • Under SEC rules, any shareholder who owns at least 1 percent of the company or $2,000 of stock can require that one proposal be placed in the company’s proxy statement to be voted on at the shareholder meeting. • Only a small percentage of these proposals are passed, but their presence may cause the directors to adopt the proposal’s statement anyway.

6. Shareholder Meetings • A company must hold an annual meeting of shareholders. • The board of directors and shareholders owning at least 10 percent of the stock have the right to call special meetings as needed.

7. Officers and Directors • Election and Removal of Directors • Shareholders have the right to elect directors and also to remove them from office. • Compensation for Officers and Directors • Typically, directors also set their own compensation (unless the charter or bylaws provide otherwise).

8. Fundamental Corporate Changes • A corporation must seek shareholder approval before undergoing any of the following fundamental changes: • Mergers • Sales of Assets • Dissolution • Amendments to the Charter • Amendments to the Bylaws

9. Right to Dissent • If a corporation decides to undertake a fundamental change, the Model Act and many state laws require the company to buy back the stock of any shareholders who object to this decision.

10. Right to Protection • Controlling shareholders have a fiduciary duty to the minority shareholders. • Minority shareholders have the right to overturn a transaction between the corporation and a controlling shareholder, unless the the transaction is fair to the minority shareholders.

11. Right to Protection (cont’d) • Controlling shareholders must include minority shareholders in any favorable arrangements that they make for their own stock. • Many states prohibit a company from expelling shareholders unless the firm pays a fair price for the minority stock and the expulsion has a legitimate business purpose.

12. Enforcing Rights • Derivative Lawsuits • Brought by shareholders to remedy a wrong to the corporation. All proceeds of the litigation go to the corporation. • Direct Lawsuits • Shareholders are permitted to sue the corporation directly only if their own rights have been harmed. • Class Action Lawsuits • If a group of shareholders all have the same claim, they can join together and file suit as a class action.

13. “In theory, corporate shareholders are immensely powerful. They own $13 trillion in assets worldwide. But shareholders are carefully constrained in their efforts to exercise this power. Is the balance between shareholders and corporate managers reasonable and fair?”

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