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PHILANTHROPY: Ikea's late founder structured business as three foundations

A company has a life of its own which is independent from that of its partners: it will go on living even after its partners die or it can be dissolved and wound up even if its partners are alive.All companies have a legal status and as such they have assets that are distinct from those of the partners that constitute the company. They have a name, a registered office and, hence are legal entities that are quite distinct from the individuals making up the company.They are non-personified col

The limited liability company is intended for smaller companies than joint-stock companies, and the equity participation in the company has a personal connotation which is absent in the s.p.a.  In fact, it has a limited number of shareholders who are not personally responsible for the social security liabilities, even if they have acted in the name and on behalf of the company.The legislation in place as of 1 January 2004 has had a major impact on the limited liability company, which is an e

The functioning of the company with share capital, in its traditional model, is based on the necessary simultaneous presence of three bodies:  the shareholders’ meeting, the board of directors and the board of statutory auditors, each of which has its own distinct sphere of competence. Accounts are audited by an auditor or by an audit firm, except for closed companies where this is decided in the By-laws.The shareholders’ meeting, which is a sovereign body since it is empowered to decide on

On the basis of the provisions in force as of 1 January 2004, the administration of joint-stock companies may be organised according to three separate models:  the traditional model, the monistic model (of Anglo-Saxon origin) and the two-tier model (of German origin).In the traditional model, the directors have the task of running the company, and are accordingly provided with the power of being pro-active i.e. promoting the decision-making activity of the meeting (power of initiative), of i

Once upon a time it was enough to say that a foreigner was someone who was not an Italian citizen. This definition – to be clear – is still valid. Except that Article 17 of the EC Treaty institutes a citizenship of the European Union which is attributed to anyone who is a citizen of a Member State. Belonging to the European Union brings with it various consequences, some of which are very important, like the prohibition on

Take the case in which the company has lost capital. What is the company allowed to do?In this connection the law envisages that, in case of losses, the company cannot distribute profits among the partners until the capital has been reduced or replenished by the corresponding amount.However, unlike what happens for companies with share capital, there is no obligation to reduce the capital whatever the amount of the losses incurred, even if the latter are such as to wipe out the  entire capit

The management of a company is the activity of running the corporate enterprise. The power of management is the power of carrying out any activity that falls within the scope of the corporate purpose.When the management of the company falls on more than one partner (all or some), and the partnership contract makes no provision on how the power of management is to be exercised, then the notion of  separate management shall apply:  each partner is a director, that is, he has the power of manag

Contributions are the assets that the partners are obliged to provide under the partnership deed.In other terms, the contributions are the resources that the partners contribute to create the initial assets of the company.It is their function to provide the company with the initial capital required to carry out the company’s activity.Through the contribution each partner allocates a part of his personal assets to the common activity throughout the lifetime of the company and takes on the ent

The share capital is a numerical entity that expresses the value of the contributions in monetary terms, as indicated by the valuation expressed in the Memorandum of Association.A share capital of 100 means that the partners have committed to contributing (underwritten capital) and/or have contributed (fully paid-up capital) money or other entities which at the time of the signing of the partnership deed, were attributed that given monetary value.The share capital remains unchanged throughou

Throughout the life of the company the partners may modify the partnership contract but this requires a unanimous vote, unless otherwise agreed and except for the case in which the company were to be turned into a  stock company, for mergers and spin offs, in which cases (unless otherwise decided in the shareholders’ agreement on which you should be advised by your notary) a simple majority is required by law.  The majority is established on the basis of the share of profits attributed to ea