Williams Act

Well, it’s 28 grand slam singles titles. 26 in doubles. 8 Olympic gold medals. A successful designer clothing company and an interior design firm.

Ok, ok...the Williams Act is actually about making acquisitions or takeovers...fair and square. Ya know. Like a tennis court.

Before 1968, when the Williams Act 1.0 was enacted, MegaGlop Gargantuan Strollers could launch a takeover bid for MicroCorp Shakers, Rattlers, n’ Hum, to make a vertically integrated near-monopoly in baby hardware.

The bid could have come in on a Thursday, giving shareholders 48 hours to respond with, say, a 20% premium over the current share price. Take it by noon Monday, or the deal's off the table.

Shareholders would then have to quickly scramble to figure out whether this was a fair price, a steal, or something else done just to disrupt the market. A bunch of companies were “stolen” this way, with boards having to scramble and often ending up with less than an optimal deal for its shareholders.

So the Williams Act came along and required there 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, etc. It also required there be at least 5 days from when the initial 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 financial regulatory worlds), the Williams Act pause button was extended to 20 days. And that’s where things stand today.

So yeah, the Williams Act ensures fairness, which cannot be said for the take-no-prisoners Williams sisters. Those two do not know the meaning of the word "mercy."