Okay, so let’s pretend that you’re going to a concert, and you want to get your friends to go, too. Your goal is to influence the number of people who head to the gig. You’ll call up your most reliable friends and ask them to join you. If they’re awesome friends, they’ll say yes. But don’t be secretive about your dealings. Otherwise, you might have a lot of explaining to do, and you might greatly irk the members of the band.
The same goes for “acting in concert” in the financial world. In short, if you want to acquire parts of a company (shares) and make a lasting impression, you’ll ask your influential friends and business buddies to take the exact same actions that you do...with a goal of creating a unified end-result.
That said, there are times when you must declare your intentions to avoid violating securities laws. In other words, never act in concert without consulting with your attorney first. This move could violate the law if you directly harm a third-party, or if you fail to state your intentions in accordance with the percentages required by law.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is the Williams Act?5 Views
finance a la shmoop what is the Williams Act
well it's 28 Grand Slam singles titles 26 in doubles eight Olympic gold medals [William's sisters career stats appear]
a successful designer clothing company and an interior design firm yeah like
you really thought shmoop wouldn't go there for this one come on the Williams
Act the financial one is actually about making acquisitions or takeovers fair
and square you know like a tennis court before 1968 when the Williams Act 1.0 [People playing tennis]
was enacted mega glopped gargantuan strollers could launch a takeover bid
for micro Corp shakers Rattlers and Hum to make a vertically integrated
near-monopoly in baby hardware the bid could have come in on a Thursday giving [Bid appears on calendar]
shareholders 48 hours to respond with say a 20% premium over the current share
price take it by noon Monday or leave it in the deal's off the table shareholders
would then have to quickly scramble to figure out this was no is this a fair [Woman scrambling away]
deal a steal or something else done just to disrupt the market well a bunch of
companies were quote stolen unquote this way with boards having to scramble and [Robber running away from police]
often ending up with less than optimal or full value that they were supposed to
get for their shareholders who they represent so the Williams Act came along
and required there to be a whole range of filings and disclosures whenever a
public takeover was announced like the price the terms the mix of stock and
cash what the newly composed company would look like it's out its out cetera
and it also required that there be at least five days from when the initial [Five days on calendar highlighted]
takeover was announced to there being any kind of definitive agreement and
then quickly investors realized that five days wasn't long enough so less
than a decade later yeah things move slowly in a financial regulatory world [Cash falling]
the Williams Act pause button was extended to 20 days and that's where
things stand today so yeah the Williams Act ensures [Williams act stamped fairness]
fairness or at least it tries to and that fairness you know which cannot be
said for the taking no prisoners Williams sisters those two do not know
the meaning of mercy [Tennis ball hits girl on the head]
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