§ 100. Transfer and ownership of stock. 1. No telegraph corporation or telephone corporation, domestic or foreign, shall hereafter purchase or acquire, take or hold any part of the capital stock of any telegraph corporation or telephone corporation organized or existing under the laws of this state unless authorized so to do by the commission.
2. Save where stock shall be transferred or held for the purpose of collateral security, no stock corporation, domestic or foreign, company, including, but not limited to, a limited liability company, association, including a joint stock association, partnership, including a limited liability partnership, or person, other than a telegraph corporation or telephone corporation, shall, without the consent of the commission, purchase or acquire, take or hold more than ten per centum of the voting capital stock issued by any telegraph corporation or telephone corporation organized or existing under or by virtue of the laws of this state. Any corporation now lawfully holding a majority of the voting capital stock of any telegraph corporation or telephone corporation may, without the consent of the commission, acquire and hold the remainder of the voting capital stock of such telegraph corporation or telephone corporation, or any portion thereof.
3. No consent shall be given by the commission to the acquisition of any stock in accordance with this section unless it shall have been shown that such acquisition is in the public interest; provided, however, that any such consent shall be deemed to be granted by the commission ninety days after such corporation applies to the commission for its consent, unless the commission, or its designee, determines and informs the applicant in writing within such ninety day period that the public interest requires the commission's review and its written consent. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the holding of any stock heretofore lawfully acquired, nor to prevent, upon the surrender or exchange of such stock pursuant to a reorganization plan, the purchase, acquisition, taking or holding of a proportionate amount of stock of any new corporation organized to take over, at foreclosure or other sale the property of any corporation whose stock has been thus surrendered or exchanged; but the proportion of the voting capital stock of the new corporation held by a stock corporation, company, association, partnership or person and acquired by it by any such surrender or exchange of stock shall not without the consent of the commission exceed the proportion of the voting capital stock held by it in the former corporation.
4. Every contract, assignment, transfer or agreement for transfer of any stock by or through any person or corporation to any corporation, company, association, partnership or person, in violation of any provision of this chapter shall be void and of no effect, and no such transfer or assignment shall be made upon the books of any such telegraph corporation or telephone corporation, or shall be recognized as effective for any purpose.
