THE NEXT CENTURY OF CORPORATE LAW Today he would give us some provocative remarks on the necessary prerequisites for survival of global corporations Two seats down on my right, Pierre s. dupont, Iv, one of our commentators. Pete is the former two-term governor of our state. He also served three terms in the United States House of Representatives. Milton Freeman has correctly lauded Pete as one of the few politicians in this country who has"consistently stuck to principles. "Pete now practices law with the prestigious firm of Richards, Layton Finger in Wilmington. He is also Policy Chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis To my far right, the Honorable Jack B. Jacobs, familiar to us all, Vice-Chancellor of the Court of Chancery of the state of Delaware. Jack and I began our careers as law clerks to the Court of Chancery in 1967 a few weeks ago- working for the Honorable william Duffy who then presided as Chancellor. Jack then practiced with the prestigious Wilmington firm of Young, Conaway, Stargatt Taylor In 1985, I believe, he became Vice-Chancellor and during the takeover years, he wrote some of the most significant decisions of that time some of which i won some of which i lost vanhoe y. New mont I ovC v. Paramount. He frequently speaks, as we know, at functions for the American Bar Association, the delaware Bar Association and for Tulane University at its corporate law institute which many of you here have attended All right. By way of introduction, in 1996, this little dinky brewing company, Spring Street Brewing Company, became the first entity to have a direct public offering on the internet. It was a very inexpensive situation In 1999, as we know, technology stocks helped the Dow pass 11, 000. This is also the year of the Euro dollar uniting fifteen European currencies Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, has recently acknowledged that the exchange must plan to directly trade foreign stocks no more DRs, in order to keep pace with the global economy So where are we going with all this? Eileen Filliben of my office and myself, mostly Eileen, have prepared a piece that is part of your symposium materials entitled "Corporate Governance, Current Trends and Likely Developments for the 2lst Century. It's our crystal ball look a hundred years out. So who can tell that were wrong? We surveyed the current trends in corporate governance and theorize on the likely impact of those trends irst, technology is reshaping the way companies raise capital interact with suppliers and relate to investors. Small companies are now raising public capital with direct offerings on the internet -QvC Network, Inc. v. Paramount Communications Inc, 635 A2d 1245(Del. Ch2000] THE NEXT CENTURY OF CORPORATE LAW 7 1 Ivanhoe Partners v. Newmont Mining Corp., 533 A.2d 585 (Del. Ch. 1987). 2QVC Network, Inc. v. Paramount Communications Inc., 635 A.2d 1245 (Del. Ch. 1993). Today he would give us some provocative remarks on the necessary prerequisites for survival of global corporations. Two seats down on my right, Pierre S. duPont, IV, one of our commentators. Pete is the former two-term governor of our state. He also served three terms in the United States House of Representatives. Milton Freeman has correctly lauded Pete as one of the few politicians in this country who has "consistently stuck to principles." Pete now practices law with the prestigious firm of Richards, Layton & Finger in Wilmington. He is also Policy Chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis. To my far right, the Honorable Jack B. Jacobs, familiar to us all, Vice-Chancellor of the Court of Chancery of the state of Delaware. Jack and I began our careers as law clerks to the Court of Chancery in 1967 — a few weeks ago — working for the Honorable William Duffy who then presided as Chancellor. Jack then practiced with the prestigious Wilmington firm of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor. In 1985, I believe, he became Vice-Chancellor and during the takeover years, he wrote some of the most significant decisions of that time — some of which I won, some of which I lost — Ivanhoe v. Newmont, 1 QVC v. Paramount. 2 He frequently speaks, as we know, at functions for the American Bar Association, the Delaware Bar Association and for Tulane University at its corporate law institute which many of you here have attended. All right. By way of introduction, in 1996, this little dinky brewing company, Spring Street Brewing Company, became the first entity to have a direct public offering on the internet. It was a very inexpensive situation. In 1999, as we know, technology stocks helped the Dow pass 11,000. This is also the year of the Euro dollar uniting fifteen European currencies. Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, has recently acknowledged that the exchange must plan to directly trade foreign stocks, no more DRs, in order to keep pace with the global economy. So where are we going with all this? Eileen Filliben of my office and myself, mostly Eileen, have prepared a piece that is part of your symposium materials entitled "Corporate Governance, Current Trends and Likely Developments for the 21st Century." It's our crystal ball look a hundred years out. So who can tell that we're wrong? We surveyed the current trends in corporate governance and theorize on the likely impact of those trends. First, technology is reshaping the way companies raise capital, interact with suppliers and relate to investors. Small companies are now raising public capital with direct offerings on the internet