FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 26, 2025  

CONTACT: Carter Dougherty, carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org

Consumer and Investor Protection Organizations Denounce the Weakening of Shareholder  Rights by Delaware Legislature

Washington, D.C. — The passage of Delaware Senate Bill 21 – the Billionaires’ Bill – endangers the retirement  security of millions of families across the country. A coalition of consumer and investor groups  including Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform, and the Consumer Federation of  America opposed the legislation as did the largest retirement funds in the United States. 

Written following complaints from Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, SB 21 opens the door for  corporate insiders and controllers to steal money from everyday investors and current and future  pensioners in Delaware and across the country. The Billionaires’ Bill will eviscerate investor  rights, dramatically limit judicial oversight, and make it virtually impossible to hold greedy  corporate actors accountable for self-dealing. 

“Delaware corporate law – which covers two-thirds of companies in the S&P500 – has become  one of the last mechanisms of corporate accountability, especially for shareholders. The  Delaware Assembly clearly failed to protect investors with the passage of the Billionaire’s Bill,”  said Corey Frayer, Director of Investor Protection for the Consumer Federation of America. 

“Insulating the self-serving decisions of corporate insiders from challenge and gutting the federal  agencies and protections that hold corporate power accountable are two sides of the same coin.  Heads Big Tech oligarchs win, tails the rest of us lose,” said Natalia Renta, Associate Director of  Americans for Financial Reform. 

Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, said “With the passage of the Billionaires’ Bill,  an important set of checks on corporate greed is gone. The Billionaires’ Bill largely abandons  Delaware’s oversight over self-dealing by billionaires and instead gives them an incentive to  grab corporate assets, leaving public investors, including pension funds and retail investors,  holding the bag.”  

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public  interest in the halls of power, defending democracy, resisting corporate power, and fighting to  ensure that government works for the people – not big corporations. 

Consumer Federation of America is an association of non-profit consumer organizations that  was established in 1968 to advance the interests of consumers.

Americans for Financial Reform is a nonpartisan and nonprofit coalition of more than 200  civil rights, consumer, labor, business, investor, faith-based, and civic and community groups  working to lay the foundation for a strong, stable, and ethical financial system – one that serves  the economy and the nation as a whole. 

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