So, the catch here, is if you can get a significant portion of the common shareholders together, you might have grounds for a lawsuit, which may not be successf

So, the catch here, is if you can get a significant portion of the common shareholders together, you might have grounds for a lawsuit, which may not be successful, but it will slow things down. What typically happens is that the big ones (in this case, the founders) get a "Consulting Bonus." - leaving the other common shareholders out in the cold as they no longer have enough shares to mount a law suit. I've seen it happen at least once at a company that I worked for that was sold to Oracle for about $100mm - everyone who stuck around for the liquidation event got retention bonus, plus one of the cofounders who had left (but still had a big chunk of equity) got a "Consulting" bonus - and, of course, the CEO (who had been around for about 18 months) got a monster payoff. Preferred shareholders (who actually had put down $$$) got paid off with a liquidation preference. 100% of the common shareholders, including some early employees who had a reasonable chunk of the company - were totally wiped out. Got nothing for their equity.