> It might be a nice payday for the founders but it's terrible for the business environment.

At the founding stage we tend to choose from highly quantised "types" of company, usually from a boilerplate legal template; limited liability, independent trading company, partnership, charity, non-profit and suchlike. I am no expert in company law, but as far as I know, at least in the UK, "Articles of Incorporation" (the charter of the company) can be almost anything that's legal.

Hence I've long been of the opinion that founders should build-in "non-acquisition" clauses, making it impossible for predators to simply scoop up a promising company, perhaps for some fixed period like 10 or 20 years. That would solve some of the issues under discussion here. It would also change the ecology and motivations within which companies are created, grown and invested in.