The Wall Street Journal recently reported that xAI, the artificial intelligence startup founded by Elon Musk, completed a funding round of $5 billion at a pre-money valuation of $45 billion ($50 billion post-money). Rumored to participate in the round according to the Journal were Sequoia Capital, a16z and Valor Equity Partners.  One could hardly blame

I’m often asked by clients whether startups should have a separate stockholders’ agreement among the founders.  The answer largely depends on whether they have or will have certain other startup documents in place. 

First, some background on stockholders’ agreements.  These are contracts entered into by owners of privately held companies to manage the following governance

The board of directors of any Delaware corporation proposing to merge is required under Delaware law to adopt a resolution approving the merger agreement.  In the real world of M&A practice, however, the version of the merger agreement presented to and approved by the board is typically still in draft or nearly-final draft form but