President Signs JOBS Act for Small Biz Investing

President Obama on signing the JOBS Act: “For start-ups and small businesses, this bill is a potential game-changer.” — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 5, 2012 With that tweet, the White H...
President Signs JOBS Act for Small Biz Investing
Written by Mike Tuttle
  • With that tweet, the White House announced today the signing of the JOBS (Jumpsart Our Business Startups) Act. The act was a combination of bipartisan efforts aimed at helping new and small businesses get going by removing regulatory obstacles that had stood in the way of getting simpler funding from willing investors.

    We’ve spoken about the legislation here before, back when it was still in committee. One of the big changes that this act brings to American small businesses is the chance to take advantage of crowdfunding sources of investment. Rather than have to slog through piles of Securities Exchange Commission regs to get a handful of dollars to start a small project with, startups can now fast track the lane between themselves and their investors.

    A few key provisions of the act include:

  • Increase the number of shareholders a company may have before being required to register with the SEC.
  • Increase the number of shareholders allowed in community banks from 500 to 2,000.
  • Allow the use of funding portals online for smaller projects, without having to submit to SEC regulations and paperwork.
  • All of this was designed so that, as President Obama said “anyone and their mother can invest”.

    President Obama had signalled his willingness to quickly sign the bill once it got out of committee in Congress. And, today he made good on that promise, flanked by a cadre of Democrat and Republican lawmakers.

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