We examine factors that influence the choice between an initial public offering (IPO) and a takeover by a public acquirer. Our results show that the industry concentration, high-tech industry affiliation, current cost of debt, relative "hotness" of the IPO market, firm size, and insider...

We examine a large sample of mergers involving earnout payments made by bidders to target shareholders. Our findings suggest that earnouts serve two not mutually exclusive functions: as risk reduction mechanisms against misvaluation of high asymmetric information targets, and as retention...