Steven Davidoff Solomon and Matthew D. Cain study cited in Daily Journal, Feb. 11, 2016

According to a recent study, stockholder suits in Delaware were filed in 87 percent of all transactions last year, a decline from 95 percent in 2014. But the plaintiffs’ bar hit the brakes hard in the fourth quarter of 2015 – filing lawsuits on just 21.4 percent of the deals involving Delaware-incorporated companies.

Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for The New York Times, Feb. 9, 2016

If you thought there was a problem with inversions — deals that allow American companies to relocate their headquarters to lower their tax bills — wait until you hear about the real secret to avoiding corporate taxes. It’s called earnings stripping, and it is a technique that the Obama administration has so far failed to stop.

Steven Davidoff Solomon interviewed on Bloomberg, Feb. 8, 2016

Activism’s been a great strategy for the past few years. Because it’s a rising market, you come in, you split the company, normally there’s a pop right there, or you sell the company, and there’s a pop right there. But in a down market, it’s much harder to do–much harder to sell the company, much harder to arrange a split. CEOs are scared, they don’t want to engage in risky transactions. So it just becomes a much harder strategy.

Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for The New York Times, Feb. 2, 2016

That Mr. Boies is representing an embattled client is nothing new. But this time, the lawyer has raised the ante by becoming a director of Theranos.

Steven Davidoff Solomon quoted by San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 27, 2016

“The arbitration claim is really the key to the Uber case,” said Steven Davidoff Solomon, a law professor at UC Berkeley. “If the arbitration agreement is upheld, the case is just a multimillion-dollar case. If it is not upheld, you‘re talking hundreds of millions, if not more.”

Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for The New York Times, Jan. 26, 2016

In a down market, this exuberance has come tumbling back to earth. What was volatile on the upside is now shooting downward. And although the downturn is recent, takeover activity — if it follows past patterns — will certainly slow.

Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for The New York Times, Jan. 22, 2016

For years, companies have complained that nearly every acquisition attracts a flurry of lawsuits. Nearly 95 percent of all deals in 2014 had a lawsuit. But a new study … finds that this all changed in 2015. A Delaware court crackdown on takeover litigation has driven the litigation rate to less than 22 percent.

Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for The New York Times, Jan. 19, 2016

The unicorn wars are coming, as the downturn in the market will force these onetime highfliers to seek money at valuations below their earlier billion-dollar-plus levels, known as “down rounds.”

Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for The New York Times, Dec. 22, 2015

It was an astounding year on all fronts, as deal makers grew more aggressive and shareholder activism reached new heights. The merger market is on track for a record $4 trillion-plus year. Deal makers are no doubt celebrating, but they may also want to reflect that in these heady days, there were more than a few missteps and F’s.

Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for The New York Times, Dec.15, 2015

Given the risks involved, one wonders why the companies would commit to this. The reason is those activist shareholders.