Owning a company is tricky business. If you want to prevent your company from being bought out, you need to prevent other companies from becoming majority shareholders. Thus, many companies put into play “defense plans” that limit share acquisition. However, Capcom’s shareholders have struck down the companies existing takeover-defense plan, which would come into process if any shareholder or group attempted to control more than 20 percent of outstanding shares.
Note, that currently there is no such proposal on the table, meaning no one has interest in buying out Capcom right now. But the fact that shareholders have struck down this plan likely signifies that they are open to making the company go on the market. Some are saying that this may be a move by the shareholders to get the company directors to increase the company’s value. A sort of threat or bluff if you will.
Right now it’s not clear what Capcom’s fate will be. Their show at E3 was kind of weak. They only had one new game to show, which was Monster Hunter 4 on the 3DS. Everything else was either a remake ( Ace Attorney Trilogy, Dead Rising 3 PC), already released ( Ultra Street Fighter IV ), or DLC ( Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha ), and now that they have lost the license to make Marvel themed fighting games, Capcom’s future may be a little shaky.
Source: Capcom