Cross Holding and Imperfect Product Markets

We consider a setting in which two firms first choose equity positions in each others stock (cross holdings) and then compete in an imperfect product market. We demonstrate that cross holdings lead to higher firm profits and higher consumer surplus when the competitors’ products are complements. We find that cross holdings lead to lower firm profits and higher consumer surplus when the products are substitutes. This finding is in contrast to the existing literature which establishes that cross holdings leads