The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that the fate of the 1670 royal charter that launched the Hudson's Bay Company, and played a pivotal role in the history of Canada, has now been decided -- with a plan for the document to be shared among four public institutions receiving court approval on Thursday. The Globe's Susan Krashinsky writes that the 355-year-old parchment had been the subject of significant concern among historians, governments and indigenous groups since Hudson's Bay considered putting it up for sale as part of its insolvency proceedings. After a number of delays, the charter proceeded to a court-supervised auction last week, with the restriction that any successful bidder had to commit to keeping the historic document in Canada and in public hands. An $18-million joint bid from two of Canada's most prominent families, the Thomsons and the Westons, was deemed successful after no other qualified bidders stepped forward. Their plan is to donate the charter so it can be shared by four institutions: the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Museum, the Canadian Museum of History and the Royal Ontario Museum. The plan also includes another $5-million to support the preservation of the document.