what to do when there is no quorum
the idea and guidelines of a quorum were set by robert s rules of order these rules were implemented to help protect organizations from the decision making power of a select few who might be uninformed or duplicitous however when a quorum is not met during a meeting the existing attendees are allowed to conduct up to four actions on behalf of the company 12the date for the shareholders meeting is stated in a company s bylaws and occurs on the same date each year 3examples of a quorummicrosoft msft has established quorum rules for its shareholders and board of directors the company s bylaws state that the shareholders quorum is the majority in interest of all the shares entitled to vote on a matter 4 generally when voting whatever the majority of the quorum votes for is approved for the board of directors a quorum is the majority of the members of the board when a quorum is present during a meeting the majority of members in attendance are permitted to decide on questions brought before them except for those otherwise restricted by the company s bylaws if the quorum is not present during a meeting the members in attendance can adjourn the meeting concerning its shareholders apple aapl defines its quorum as the majority shareholders in attendance in person or by proxy who are entitled to vote on related matters 5 shareholders can transact business when a quorum is present until adjourned if during that meeting there are no longer enough shareholders to constitute a quorum the meeting may continue and decisions can stand if approved by a majority of the shares required for the quorum apple s quorum of directors is the majority of the authorized number of directors decisions made by a majority of the directors when a quorum is present are approved transactions may continue when the quorum is initially present but later dismissed if the majority of the quorum approves the meeting may be adjourned by the majority of directors present even if the quorum is not 