This article discusses the various actions that stockholders in a startup generally need to approve, including changes to the company's articles of incorporation and bylaws, issuance of new shares, major transactions, changes in the board of directors, changes to capital structure, employee stock option plans, ...
A Shareholders' Consent to Action Without Meeting, or a consent resolution, is a written statement that describes and validates a course of action taken by the shareholders of a particular corporation without a meeting having to take place between directors and/or shareholders.
Shareholder action by written consent refers to corporate shareholders' right to act by written consent instead of a meeting. This type of consent avoids some of the negative characteristics of shareholder meetings.
Examples of changes that may require stockholder approval include increasing or decreasing the number of authorized shares, changing voting requirements or altering dividend policies.
Shareholder consent is often a defined term in the Shareholders' Agreement, and it is often defined as a percentage, say, 100% of shareholders are needed to consent to certain actions.
Consent solicitations offer issuers the flexibility to make necessary changes to existing agreements or terms outside of formal shareholder or bondholder meetings.
A form of unanimous or less-than-unanimous written consent for shareholders of a California corporation to act without a meeting.
Written consent allows directors and executives to push forth an action via writing or electronic transmission for informed decisions.
Shareholder action taken by written consent is universally recognized as a valid approval by shareholders and this is expressly confirmed by California statute. The 10-day waiting period acts to delay the effectiveness of the action, which hinders a corporation's ability to act with speed and efficiency when necessary.