You could face a coalition of the other 75% or even 40%, but that coalition has to band together in a monolithic form to defeat you. This is an unlikely scenario, however, since we are presuming that finance will go against you simply because you are the state. Anecdotal evidence of the state’s shareholding in AIB and BOI implies this isn’t the case. The Irish State is reputed to have leaned on AIB and BOI to ‘go easy’ on businesses in certain sectors even though those businesses may have been behaving ‘badly’.
A massive coalition, however, still won’t dislodge your veto. Irish law requires that particularly important decisions are passed by special resolution and a special resolution requires 75% of the vote.
A company could, in theory, alter their articles to change the requirements for some votes to be a simple majority.
But altering your articles requires passing a special resolution.
The Stiglitz proposal is not without difficulties and I am not saying it is bullet-proof. But it makes for an interesting alternative to outright nationalisation. Another way to reform companies, and ensure democratic influence over capital, is to force them to have employee and civil society representatives on their board once they surpass a certain point (turnover, profit, no. of employees) and require all companies to adhere to certain CSR requirements.