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Staggered Boards and the Value of Voting Rights
[One share-one vote: The empirical evidence]

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  • Oğuzhan Karakas
  • Mahdi Mohseni

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of staggered boards on the value of voting rights (i.e., the voting premium) estimated using option prices. We find companies with staggered boards have a higher voting premium. Exploiting plausibly exogenous court rulings, we confirm that weakening the effectiveness of staggered boards decreases the voting premium. Given that the voting premium reflects private benefits consumption and associated managerial inefficiencies, our findings are consistent with the entrenchment view of staggered boards. Analyzing the cross-sectional heterogeneity in our sample, we find the entrenchment effect of staggered boards to be particularly pronounced for firms in noncompetitive industries and for mature firms. (JEL G13, G30, G34, K22)

Suggested Citation

  • Oğuzhan Karakas & Mahdi Mohseni, 2021. "Staggered Boards and the Value of Voting Rights [One share-one vote: The empirical evidence]," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 513-550.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rcorpf:v:10:y:2021:i:3:p:513-550.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rcfs/cfab004
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Business and Securities Law

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