Do merger bonuses to target CEOs facilitate a wealth transfer from target to acquirer shareholders? We test this hypothesis against an alternative that bonuses enable a useful contractual revision in compensation contracts when takeovers generate small synergies. When target CEOs get a merger...

Unscheduled stock options to target CEOs are a non-trivial phenomenon during private merger negotiations. In 920 acquisition bids during 1999-2007, over 13% of targets grant them. These options substitute for golden parachutes and compensate target CEOs for benefits they forfeit because of the...

Acquirer CEOs with experience in the target's industry supply chain (‘supply chain CEOs') are associated with wealth effects of first-order importance: they earn 1% higher merger announcement returns. Conversely, their targets get a lower share of the merger gains. Acquisitions by supply chain...

We study the impact of the Domestic Production Activities Deduction (DPAD) on mergers and acquisitions. DPAD reduces corporate tax rates on income from work or goods made in the US. Results indicate that the quantity and quality of acquisition bids by DPAD-advantaged firms conform to the...

We examine completed M&A deals with large acquirer shareholder dollar wealth gains at announcement. We find that large-gain acquisitions are (i) typically “bolt-on” deals that are small relative to the acquirer's size; (ii) transaction-specific events (not firm- nor CEO-specific events);...