Bradley Business Divorce

A business and legal resource for majority owners and substantial minority investors in private companies and for spouses and their advisors in marital divorce proceedings that involve complex business ownership and property issues

Latest from Bradley Business Divorce

In recent years, the headlines have tracked the news of high-profile breakups among business partners in private companies. These business partner fallouts include:   

  • 2023: Sam Altman was ousted as Open AI CEO (for less than three days) before he was brought back in a dramatic return to the company where he remains today.
  • 2022,

Investments in private companies should continue to flourish in 2025 in light of the revenue and EBITDA growth they delivered this year, and this rosy financial outlook is also confirmed by company leaders. According to a KPMG report in September, 90% of leaders they surveyed in U.S. private companies reported strong optimism about their future

Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick held again last week that the pay package that Tesla’s board of directors awarded to Elon Musk in 2018 suffers from “fatal flaws,” and it was therefore rejected. This was the second time Judge McCormick reached this same result, and she issued her new ruling despite the fact that, after she

Majority owners of private companies are empowered to exercise control over their businesses, but if they disregard the valid concerns of their minority partners, they may sow the seeds for a divisive business divorce in the future. The typical business owner is focused, decisive and driven to succeed. These characteristics are admirable, and they work

Money talks when the majority owners of private companies add new business partners who contribute additional capital. When these investors are high-powered PE firms or high-profile companies, with large balance sheets and impressive portfolio companies, they may seem too good to be true. That may be the case, as well, with high-net-worth individual investors who

Entrepreneurs are incredibly devoted to the success of their business, but even a thriving company may be severely impacted by a high conflict marital divorce. When a couple decides to part ways, the ripple effects can extend beyond their personal lives and potentially jeopardize the business they worked so hard to build. Although the couple

Fast-growing private companies are exciting to observe as outsiders, but on the inside the company founder has the challenge of securing enough capital to fuel the rapid growth of the business. The company’s continuous need for capital places the founder in the position of having to manage the company’s operations while at the same time

Private company investing is inherently risky, but these risks can be mitigated if investors take proactive steps before making this type of investment. This due diligence action plan for potential investors includes the following specific steps: (1) identifying whether key factors are present in the businesses that mark it for success, (2) evaluating the current

Conflicts between co-owners in private companies are common, but the vast majority are worked out through dialogue and negotiation. When these internal conflicts cannot be resolved, however, minority investors may file suit against the company’s majority owner. Anecdotally, these investor claims seem to be on the rise, including claims that the majority owner breached fiduciary