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Control Rights, Pyramids, and the Measurement of Ownership Concentration

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  • Jeremy S.S. Edwards
  • Alfons J. Weichenrieder

Abstract

The recent corporate governance literature has emphasised the distinction between control and cash-flow rights but has disregarded measurement issues. Control rights may be measured by immediate shareholder votes, the voting rights as traced through ownership chains, or voting power indices that may or may not trace ownership through chains. We compare the ability of various measures to identify the effects of ownership concentration on share valuation using a German panel data set. The widely-used weakest link principle does not perform well in this comparison. Furthermore, measures that trace control through ownership chains do not outperform those that rely on immediate ownership, thus questioning the role of pyramids in the separation of control and cash-flow rights. The paper emphasises that there is a distinction between these two aspects of ownership even without pyramids or preferred stock, identification of which requires measures that, like the Shapley-Shubik index, do not simply equate control rights with voting rights.

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  • Jeremy S.S. Edwards & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2009. "Control Rights, Pyramids, and the Measurement of Ownership Concentration," Post-Print hal-00701897, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00701897
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2009.05.016
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00701897
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    3. Jie He & Min Wang, 2021. "The Origin of Corporate Control Power," Papers 2106.01681, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2024.
    4. Balsmeier, Benjamin & Bermig, Andreas & Dilger, Alexander, 2013. "Corporate governance and employee power in the boardroom: An applied game theoretic analysis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 51-74.
    5. Taylan Mavruk & Evert Carlsson, 2015. "How long is a long-term-firm investment in the presence of governance mechanisms?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 5(1), pages 117-149, June.
    6. Michael Klien, 2014. "Corporatization and the Behavior of Public Firms: How Shifting Control Rights Affects Political Interference in Water Prices," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(4), pages 393-422, June.
    7. Nan Zhou, 2018. "Hybrid State-Owned Enterprises and Internationalization: Evidence from Emerging Market Multinationals," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 605-631, August.
    8. Fernando Lefort & Rodrigo Gonzalez, 2011. "Holding Company Discounts and Business Groups Optimal Bailout of Subsidiaries," Working Papers 34, Facultad de Economía y Empresa, Universidad Diego Portales.
    9. Taylan Mavruk & Conny Overland & Stefan Sjögren, 2020. "Keeping it real or keeping it simple? Ownership concentration measures compared," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(4), pages 958-1005, September.
    10. Benkraiem, Ramzi & Lakhal, Faten & Zopounidis, Constantin, 2020. "International diversification and corporate cash holding behavior: What happens during economic downturns?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 362-371.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    G32; G34; Control rights; Cash-flow rights; Pyramids; Ownership structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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