Unicorn Shareholder Suits

How U.S. companies raise money and grow has fundamentally shifted. Large private companies dominate the corporate landscape, with a ballooning list of private companies valued at more than a billion dollars—the unicorns. This Article examines the implications of this shift for shareholder litigation. Drawing on an original study of shareholder litigation against private companies valued at more than a billion dollars as of 2016, the Article analyzes barriers to unicorn shareholder suits and explains why such suits look quite different than shareholder litigation on the public side.

It concludes by identifying remaining routes for litigants and evaluating the extent to which shareholder litigation can police these large private corporations.