Comparing Shareholder Rights in USA and Germany : A Critical Assessment

The intensity of debates on corporate governance has increased significantly in the past decades. Problems deriving from the classical agency conflict in publicly held corporations, amongst which, most notably, the risk of low shareholder protection have been persistent. It is amidst these debates that this article analyzes, compares and critically assesses shareholder rights in publicly held corporations in the U.S. and Germany. The research analyzes how shareholders are protected in both jurisdictions, finding the commonalities and differences in the approaches followed and analyzing the pertaining dilemmas with regards to each of them