We provide an explanation for the widespread use of senior convertible preferred stock in venture capital financing. We develop a model of cash constrained entrepreneurs who need an investor to finance their project. Investors can either be uninformed, such as small individual bondholders, or...

We examine the shareholder wealth effects of takeover defenses by developing a model in which takeovers facilitate the implementation of technological innovations. In the rational expectations equilibrium of the model with explicit contracts, we show that takeover defenses are deployed to insure...