Final answer:
A minimum of three investors is needed to change the Darkroom Windowshade Company's top management. Investors 1 and 2 combined do not have enough shares to ensure they can always get their way and need at least one more investor to have a majority vote of over 50%.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question relates to the number of shares required to change top management at the Darkroom Windowshade Company, which has 100,000 shares outstanding. To change the company's top management, over 50% of the shareholder votes are needed, meaning more than 50,000 shares must vote in favor of the change.
When we add up the shares held by investors, we start with the largest shareholders for efficiency. Investor 1 has 20,000 shares and Investor 2 has 18,000 shares, which combined is 38,000 shares. They would need additional votes to exceed the 50% threshold. Including Investor 3, who has 15,000 shares, gets us to 53,000 shares which is more than enough to get a majority vote. Thus, it would take at least three investors to change the company's top management.
Since Investors 1 and 2 combined have 38,000 shares, their voting power together is not enough to guarantee that they can get their way on their own, as they do not control the majority. They will need the support of at least one other investor to ensure they have the necessary majority vote.