Not a given. No one replaced CatCo, for example. It was a few years before Wuxing and Horizon made it up, and people are still shocked that Horizon got in. Gary Cline either has a LOT of dirt on people or he's an AMAZINGLY good speaker. Now, for us, since we see them there as soon as CatCo went down, but it was, what, five years in universe? More? Before they were promoted.
Wuxing joined the Corporate Court on 15 August 2060, when judge Li Feng was elected to replace David Hague of Fuchi Industrial Electronics (died in an aircrash). Cross Applied Technologies joined on 15 April 2060, when Yves Aquillon was elected to replace Navroz Chandaria of Renraku Computer Systems (died in terrorist bombing).
Cross Applied Technologies still had AAA rating at the time of
System Failure in november 2064. The seat of Cross judge was somehow "vacated" for Horizon to claim it in 2065 (see
Shadowrun 4th edition, page 34, and
Shadowrun 20th Anniversary edition, pages 30 and 34). The book never mentioned if Cross judge died or was forced into retirement, or if it happened to be the year his term was scheduled to end anyway.
Seven corps that founded the court have primacy and can't be removed, but the rest? They're transitory, allowed to play the game only at the discretion of the 'real' seven Megas. They are:
Ares Industries, formerly of the Auerialles Family (Whose name I can never spell) and controlled by Damien Knight.
ORO, which is part of Aztechnology
BMW, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saeder-Krupp
JRJ International, owned by Richard Villers personally and 'loaned' to NeoNET.
Keruba International, which was bought out by Renraku. (Renraku still makes guns under that name.)
Mitsuhama Computer Technologies
Shiawase
Horizon, Wuxing, and Evo are all 'Junior Members' of the court and, ultimately, are espendable. Removing one of the Core Seven is ... difficult. I would assume that if you dug deep enough, you might found an out (Such as al 13 Justices have to agree, INCLUDING their own), but otherwise, whoo buddy. Not gonna go down easy.
Being represented on the Corporate Court and Zurich-Orbital Gemeinshaft Bank board gives these corps an edge over competition, but it doesn't make them invulnerable. It's business. A vote and preferred rate from Z-OG can't do anything for you when your market shares shrink and your cashflow runs dry.
Of course, all ten of them got prime megacorporate status because they were large and stable corporations, who could be entrusted with the rate of the world trade currency, economic negotiations with governments, space assets, private armies, nuclear weapons... Driving out of business a sizable number of their divisions and subsidiaries is a near impossible task. But it won't be easier to down Evo than Shiawase (ranked respectively #7 and #8 according to
Corporate Guide).
At least, the founding members of the Corporate Court will always retain something to sell: a seat on the Court and a Z-OG share. The founders could be willing to pay a high price to prevent a new corporation from entering the court. The newcomers even more so, to guarantee their place on the Court, but just as well as any of other megacorporations. While Shadowrun often makes it like whoever wants to buy does (Ares and Cross, I'm looking at you), the seller gets to pick the offer he wants. The buyer may even offer the management of the failing corporation high-ranking positions within their ranks, with corporate immunity, a nice flat and a security details. But except probably Lofwyr, I doubt a lot of the AAA leaders would try to rebuild a new corporation when too much damages have been done, instead of simply selling.
Ares Industries may remain on the Corporate Court forever, but there would be quite a change between Ares Industries as a subsidiary of Ares Macrotechnology automotive, aerospace, defense, security and media group, with Damien Knight as President/CEO, and Ares Industries as a subsidiary of, say, Universal Omnitech biotechnology, chemicals and mining group, with Damien Knight as honorary vice-president for Northeast American operations (it's just an example, so you get the idea).
