In addition, a corporation's creditors often will contractually restrict the corporation's power to make distributions. The most straightforward and common changes faced by corporations are amendments to their bylaws and articles. The directors or incorporators initially adopt the bylaws. After that, the shareholders or directors, or both, hold the power to repeal or amend the bylaws, usually at shareholders' meetings and subject to a corporation's voting regulations. Most modern statutes limit the authority to amend articles only by requiring that an amendment would have been legal to include in the original articles.
Some statutes shield minority shareholders from harmful majority-approved amendments.
A merger or acquisition generally is a transaction or device that allows one corporation to merge into or take over another corporation. Mergers and acquisitions are complicated processes that require the involvement and approval of both the directors and the shareholders. In a merger or consolidation, two corporations become one by either maintaining one of the original corporations or creating a new corporation consisting of the prior corporations. Where statutes authorize these combinations, these changes are called statutory mergers. The statutes allow the surviving or new corporation to automatically assume ownership of the assets and liabilities of the disappearing corporation or corporations.