Also to add to your post,
"shareholders with as little as 5-10 percent ownership can push for their own seats on the board or enact changes at shareholder meetings"
Benefits of Controlling Interest
The upside of holding a controlling interest in a company can come in many forms. First, whether the company is public or private, controlling interest gives a person or group of people massive influence. Since, by definition, the party with controlling interest automatically has the majority vote, controlling interest then allows an individual to veto or overturn decisions made by existing board members. This gives people who have controlling interest in a company the ability to take ownership over the operational and strategic decision-making processes.
Further, in some companies, if an individual has the controlling interest of the company, the company will automatically make that person the chairman of a company's board of directors. This gives the individual with controlling interest even more power than the majority vote. In addition to retaining veto power over a board vote, the individual can effectively make board decisions on their own, including hiring C-level executives.
Finally, controlling interest grants an investor leverage to increase their shareholding stake in a company in the event of a merger or acquisition. For example, in the case of a strategic merger that involves a share swap, the investor holding a controlling interest structures the deal in such a way that they continue to have majority voting power over the new entity.
