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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 110 No. 3 2013

How do staggered boards affect shareholder value? Evidence from a natural experiment

Alma Cohen1; Charles C. Y. Wang2

1 National Bureau of Economic Research · 2 Harvard Business School, United States

Abstract

The well-established negative correlation between staggered boards (SBs) and firm value could be due to SBs leading to lower value or a reflection of low-value firms' greater propensity to maintain SBs. We analyze the causal question using a natural experiment involving two Delaware court rulings—separated by several weeks and going in opposite directions—that affected the antitakeover force of SBs. We contribute to the long-standing debate on staggered boards by presenting empirical evidence consistent with the market viewing SBs as leading to lower firm value for the affected firms.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2013.08.005
Volume
110
Issue
3
Pages
627-641
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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