CONTENT CENTER
White House to Business: “Take Ransomware Crime Seriously”
By Cynthia Larose
As we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, another type of infection is threatening businesses as ransomware continues to spread. A roll call of entities have experienced major ransomware attacks just in the past few weeks.
Restricted Stock Units Unpacked
By Jacob Neumark
For many startup companies, compensating directors, officers, and employees can pose quite the challenge. While startup companies want to lure top talent, and incentivize workplace continuity and employee buy-in, they are often stressed for capital, and need to keep overhead costs low. One common approach to balancing these interests is for companies to offer restricted stock units (“RSUs,”) to their directors, officers, and employees as a form of compensation.
Public Benefit Corporations are Going Public
By Ben Stone
As society increasingly expects corporations, large and small, to generate positive social impact alongside profits, many entrepreneurs and executives are incorporating their companies as, or converting to, Public Benefit Corporations (“PBCs”).
"Gig" Workers May Become Eligible to Receive Equity Compensation
By Dan DeWolf and Sanjana Ramkumar
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) recently voted to propose temporary rules to permit companies to provide equity compensation to certain workers known as “gig” or “platform” workers.
Fact-Specific Inquiry: Deciding Between Trade Secret and Patent Protection
By Adam P. Samansky and Nicholas W. Armington
Innovations that are eligible for patent protection are often vital to a company’s revenue stream and profitability, but in some cases, opting for trade secret protection is a better strategic choice.
Statutory – not Shareholder – Activism: Governor Newsom Signs California’s Diversity Mandate into Law
By Jen Rubin
California has enacted the nation’s first diversity mandate for public company boards. As we previously reported, the new law (AB 979) builds upon California’s first-in-the-nation statutory gender mandate for public company boards.
SEC Proposes Relief from Broker-Dealer Registration for Certain Finders
By Steve Ganis
The SEC recently published in the Federal Register a proposed notice of an exemptive order (the “Proposal”) that would, subject to limitations and conditions discussed below, exempt certain individuals seeking to find investors for private companies and unregistered funds (“Finders”) from federal broker-dealer regulation requirements. Among other things the Proposal would allow Finders to earn commissions or other transaction-based compensation.
From New York to Delaware: The Process of Redomesticating a New York Corporation
By Ashna Pai
It is a common story we have heard from many emerging company clients: a young New York-based entrepreneur wants to start a company. The entrepreneur decides to incorporate his or her company in New York, believing New York to be the most obvious and best logistical choice because New York is where they are based, where the operations of the company, including its employees, offices etc. are to be based, and, not to mention, because of the many opportunities, diverse talent and creativity that has always attracted start-up companies to New York. Fast forward a couple of years, the company is starting to take off and has caught the eye of several institutional investors who are willing to invest in the company’s growth, however, before investing they are requiring the company to be incorporated in Delaware. Why? As many entrepreneurs will soon learn, Delaware is considered to be the “gold standard” among many for a corporation’s domicile. It is known to be business and management friendly, there is an extensive body of corporate cases for companies to refer to, it follows the “business judgement rule” regarding decisions of directors, and generally, the laws tend to be flexible and favorable for founders and their investors.
Management Carve-Out Plans
By Garrett Galvin
A company may find itself in a position to sell for a variety of reasons: a sale may be necessary to continue its growth, a potential buyer made an offer too good to pass up, or the owners are simply looking towards their next venture. Regardless of the reason for the sale, the prospect of selling the company can be a difficult but exciting time for all involved and it is important for the sellers to have management support of the transaction to bring it across the finish line.
Choice of Business Entity: Pros and Cons of Corporations and LLCs
Choosing the form of your business entity is one of the first and most important steps toward running a successful business. Three of the most common entity types are C-Corporations, S-Corporations and Limited Liability Companies (LLCs). Each entity type has its own advantages and disadvantages, including with respect to taxation, attractiveness to investors and simplicity. For most companies intending to raise money from venture capital funds, a C-Corporation is the most common choice. However, S-Corporations and LLCs provide tax advantages that may make them more suitable for certain businesses. This article addresses the pros and cons of C-Corporations, S-Corporations and LLCs, and how you can determine which one may be right for your business.
Stock Vesting in Startup Companies
By Alex Civetta and Garrett Galvin
Why “Vesting?”
Building a company from the ground up is a risky (but hopefully rewarding) endeavor for founders. In exchange for the founders’ efforts and devotion to the success of the company, the founders take a significant equity stake in the company, with the expectation that the value of these shares will grow substantially as the company grows. However, where there are multiple founders involved, each founder will want to ensure that their co-founder(s) are incentivized to stay with the business and work hard to make it successful, rather than holding on to a large equity stake and relying on the other founders to put in the lion’s share of the work needed to grow the business. To address this concern, the initial grant of shares to each founder is often made subject to “vesting,” which links a founder’s right to keep such shares (or some portion thereof) to their continued service with the company.
Fiduciary Duties in M&A Transactions
By Page Hubben
The board of directors of a corporation owe fiduciary duties to the corporation and its stockholders under Delaware law. In most general matters, the actions and decisions of the board and the company’s officers are viewed through the standard of the business judgment rule. In a change in control transaction, however, a court reviewing the actions of a board will apply a heightened standard, and the actions and decisions of the board and officers become subject to a greater level of scrutiny. Courts often examine the board’s decision-making process, the reasonableness of actions taken and the information on which decisions are based. To build a strong case against potential litigation during a significant transaction, companies and their boards should be well informed about their duties and follow best practices for evaluating, structuring and approving a deal.
Fixing Void or Voidable Stock Issuances with Section 204 of the Delaware General Corporation Law ("DGCL")
By Paula Valencia-Galbraith
Has your corporation sold stock before having a sufficient number of shares authorized under its Certificate of Incorporation? The DGCL requires that the authorized capital be increased before the sale is consummated because the Corporation needs to create the stock it is going to sell. Without the stock’s creation there is nothing to sell to the investors and failure to increase the authorized capital could deem the sale and issuance void or voidable due to the Corporation’s failure to comply with the technicalities of the DGCL. Before 2014 there was no mechanism that could retroactively fix issuing equity with an insufficient number of authorized capital or any other type of transaction that required certain technical requirements by the DGCL. These types of mistakes led to potentially embarrassing conversations with a corporation’s investors but in 2014 this all changed.
Seed Funding Basics
By Jason Miller
After forming a company and dividing equity amongst the co-founders, a founding team’s next questions are typically about funding. Often among ambitious founders, venture capital first comes to mind. Today, venture capital is well-suited for growing early-stage companies but rarely available for truly starting companies. In recent years, venture capital has been deployed in larger amounts to fewer companies and there has been a corresponding shift toward larger and more frequent seed or angel investments.
Key Considerations: Board of Director Composition and Director Recruiting in Early Stage Companies
By Christina Balestracci
The board of directors governs the activities of a company, overseeing and advising management while upholding its fiduciary duties to the company’s shareholders. A board is tasked with making high-level decisions, approving major policies and supervising performance and company strategy. Given its significant role, there are several important and strategic factors to consider when structuring a board of directors.
IRS Provides Additional Guidance on the Tax Treatment of Cryptocurrency
By Avi Reshtick, David Salamon
Nearly five years after the release of the only published guidance in the area, on October 9, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued additional guidance on the tax treatment of cryptocurrency. The additional guidance was delivered in the form of Rev. Rul. 2019-24 (the “Crypto Ruling”) and a set of Frequently Asked Questions (“Crypto FAQs”) that applies the principles outlined in the IRS’ previously issued guidance (Notice 2014-21) to an expanded set of situations.
Founder Liquidity: Key Considerations in Secondary Sales
By Soobin Kim
As a founder starts and grows a company, the founder may consider selling her shares in the company prior to an exit via a sale of the company or an initial public offering. Such sale, typically called a secondary sale, helps a founder meet needs for necessary expenditures or reduce her risk tied to the company. In the past, the founder’s sale of her shares was viewed as signaling lack of confidence and misaligning the founder’s interests, and therefore, investors often blocked the founder’s sale of her equity.
Liquidity for Private Company Securities — Rule 144
By Joshua Bergmann
For early stage private companies that need to effectively utilize available capital, often times attracting talent comes at the expense of issuing shares of stock (or options to purchase shares of stock) of the company through the use of an equity incentive plan.
What Lessons Can Investors Learn from SoftBank's Investment in WeWork?
Few investments by venture capital or private equity funds have undergone as much scrutiny as the investment by SoftBank in WeWork.
How to Write Gender-Neutral Contracts
“Men” is not synonymous to “person”, nor does “he” mean “she.” It is important for contractual language to be not only precise but also accurate. Many agreements govern multiple individuals, some of whose gender is unclear or variable.
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