Shareholder Rights

What this video covers

• Why common shareholders get one vote per share, and what they actually vote on (board elections, mergers, charter amendments, stock splits)
• How statutory (straight) voting forces votes to spread across seats, letting majority shareholders sweep every board seat
• Why cumulative voting (shares times open seats) is the method that protects minority shareholders by letting them stack votes on one candidate
• What preemptive (antidilution) rights protect: both voting power AND proportional ownership percentage when new shares are issued
• Why preemptive rights are NOT automatic, must be in the corporate charter, and typically carry a 10 to 30 day exercise window
• The full liquidation priority order: secured creditors, unsecured creditors, bondholders, preferred stock, then common stock dead last
• Why common stockholders often receive nothing in bankruptcy, and why that risk is the tradeoff for unlimited upside