CBS and its special committee of independent directors have decided to sue the Redstone controlling shareholders.

Daisy Harvey

2018-05-09 08:31:00 Wed ET

CBS and its special committee of independent directors have decided to sue the Redstone controlling shareholders because these directors might have breached their fiduciary duties. This breach can cause irreparable harm since the Redstone controlling shareholders who own 79% of CBS equity stakes have indicated a clear intention to force a merger of CBS and Viacom. This prospective merger may not serve the best interests of CBS's minority shareholders who own the residual 21% equity stakes.

CBS's independent directors propose to issue a stock dividend of voting shares to all the minority shareholders. This issuance would dilute the voting power of the Redstone controlling shareholders from 79% to about 17% but would not dilute the economic ownership interests of any CBS shareholders. This special dividend is permissible under CBS's corporate charter for its controlling shareholders and directors to honor their fiduciary duties of care, loyalty, and good faith.

Alternatively, the Redstone controlling shareholders might go nuclear by voting out the special committee of independent directors instantly by written consent with short shareholder notice. This coup attempt would allow the Redstone controlling shareholders to replace the board with their close friends who would then approve the CBS-Viacom merger plan. On balance, this complex and thorny issue shines fresh light on whether the current corporate governance regime should enhance independent directorship with greater voting power.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Uniform field theory of corporate finance

Peter Prince

2022-11-25 09:29:00 Friday ET

Uniform field theory of corporate finance

Uniform field theory of corporate finance While the agency and precautionary-motive stories are complementary, these stories can be nested as special cas

+See More

We share famous inspirational stock market quotes by Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, Benjamin Graham, and several others.

Laura Hermes

2018-08-31 08:42:00 Friday ET

We share famous inspirational stock market quotes by Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, Benjamin Graham, and several others.

We share several famous inspirational stock market quotes by Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, Benjamin Graham, Ben Franklin, Philip Fisher, and Michael Jensen.

+See More

MIT professor and co-author Daron Acemoglu suggests that economic prosperity comes from high-wage job creation.

Fiona Sydney

2019-05-19 19:31:00 Sunday ET

MIT professor and co-author Daron Acemoglu suggests that economic prosperity comes from high-wage job creation.

MIT professor and co-author Daron Acemoglu suggests that economic prosperity comes from high-wage job creation. Progressive tax redistribution cannot achiev

+See More

Michael Bloomberg helps Democrats flip the House in the midterm elections and then gears up his presidential bid.

Charlene Vos

2018-11-11 13:42:00 Sunday ET

Michael Bloomberg helps Democrats flip the House in the midterm elections and then gears up his presidential bid.

Michael Bloomberg provides $80 million as campaign finance for Democrats to flip the House of Representatives in the November 2018 midterm elections, gears

+See More

Louis Kaplow strives to find a delicate balance between efficiency gains and redistributive taxes in the social welfare function.

Chanel Holden

2023-07-07 10:29:00 Friday ET

Louis Kaplow strives to find a delicate balance between efficiency gains and redistributive taxes in the social welfare function.

Louis Kaplow strives to find a delicate balance between efficiency gains and redistributive taxes in the social welfare function. Louis Kaplow (2010)

+See More

President Trump indicates that he would consider an interim Sino-American trade deal in lieu of a full trade agreement.

Apple Boston

2019-10-03 17:39:00 Thursday ET

President Trump indicates that he would consider an interim Sino-American trade deal in lieu of a full trade agreement.

President Trump indicates that he would consider an interim Sino-American trade deal in lieu of a full trade agreement. The Trump administration defers high

+See More