Yeah, that's right, but in our country, there are no shares in our type of company, so the ownership is derived from the initial investment (this is most of the times fictional, in our case it's 60:40 as mentioned before), so even if Jim owns the majority stake, he can't do anything about mine
Really? One trick I've seen that comes to mind is that the controlling shareholder sells the company to himself (really another operating entity) at a low-ball price. You'll get a little bit of cash but your 40% would be gone.
Ah. Cool. That's quite fortunate then. :)
Yeah, I would have been in a much worse situation if we had the company structure you've mentioned :)
If it's all as you say then since Jim is saying he wants everything and you should get nothing despite the fact hat you legally own 40% of the company without condition, I'd now be a hard ass, assert I own 40% of the company, and that I intend to defend that ownership. Put Jim on the defense. By saying you owe nothing he just told you he intends to steal two years of your full time work, which I'd estimate has a street value of at least $250,000. Someone who just told me they plan to steal a quarter million dollars of something I own is my enemy and a serious threat that requires professional legal assistance to defend against. Your ownership might be worth nothing that you can ever get back, but the labor and expertise you contributed still has a value that you yourself invested in the company and morally validates your ownership of 40% in addition to the already established legal fact.
Right, thanks a lot. We are friends and I've told him that I'm flexible & willing to find a reasonable solution that would be fair to both of us, but the fact that he doesn't want to talk about it at all really puts me in the position you've described. The thing I'm not sure about though is the ownership of the app - if he said to me that he'll simply form another company, I guess I'll wait if they make something of it and then I'll come back asking for a fair share
On reflection I really shouldn't have assumed your company structure was what I imagined it to be. I apologise for that.
:) No problem
What country and type of company is this?
I wouldn't like to disclose my country & the company type since I don't want to get into trouble over the possible NDA that I may have to sign, but it's not a US C-Corp-like where you can issue shares and stuff like that. the ownership is derived from the initial investment (this is most of the times fictional, just to establish the ratio - in our case it's 60:40 as mentioned before)