Two of Canada's richest families appear successful in their bid on the royal charter that formed Hudson's Bay about 355 years ago, putting an end to months of uncertainty over the document's fate and keeping it in the public domain.

The charter, signed by King Charles II in 1670, granted the Bay a trading monopoly covering the drainage basin of Hudson Bay and the right to exploit mineral resources — all without the consent of the Indigenous Peoples who already lived there.

Holding companies owned by David Thomson, the billionaire chairman of Thomson Reuters, and Galen Weston, whose family made its fortune through Canadian retail chains, expressed interest in purchasing the charter earlier this year, after the Bay filed for creditor protection in March under the weight of $1.1 billion in

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