Residents of Oakridge woke on Monday to find that the town had become the sole holder of every share issued by Janus Living, after a sale that local officials described as the largest single transfer of corporate ownership to a settlement of its size on record. Crews began work the same afternoon on a purpose-built vault beneath the town hall, a concrete chamber with reinforced steel doors and a climate system designed to keep paper certificates and digital ledgers equally stable.
The company's chief executive, speaking outside the old grain exchange, said the decision followed a simple calculation. «If a business believes in its shareholders, it should be willing to be owned by them completely», she said. Town clerks have since been issued new stamps, a new seal and a schedule of quarterly meetings that will run in the high school gymnasium because the council chamber cannot seat the expected attendance.
The consequences have spread quickly. The local bakery has started wrapping its loaves in investor relations booklets, the post office has added a second window for dividend deliveries, and the school board has voted to teach fractional arithmetic to every pupil from the first grade. A committee of retired accountants now meets nightly to decide how the town's new holdings should be voted, and so far has voted unanimously to vote unanimously.
Officials say the vault will be completed within the year, and that the town's first annual general meeting is scheduled for the spring, when the mayor will address the assembled owners from a podium built on the steps of the courthouse. Asked what would happen if the company issued more shares, the mayor replied that the town had already reserved space for them.