Journal
REVIEW OF ACCOUNTING STUDIES
Volume 24, Issue 2, Pages 536-569Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11142-019-9480-8
Keywords
Hedge fund activists; Long-term economic value of activism
Categories
Funding
- Stanford Rock Center for Corporate Governance
- Centers & Initiatives for Research, Curriculum and Learning Experiences (CIRCLE)
- University of Washington's Foster School of Business
- FMC Faculty Research Fund
- University of Chicago's Booth School of Business
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We examine the long-term effects of interventions by activist hedge funds. Research documents positive equal-weighted long-term returns and operating performance improvements following activist interventions, and typically conclude that activism is beneficial. We extend the literature in two ways. First, we find that equal-weighted long-term returns are driven by the smallest 20% of firms, with an average market value of $22 million. The larger 80% of firms experience insignificant negative long-term returns. On a value-weighted basis, which likely best gauges the effects on shareholder wealth and the economy, we find that pre- to post-activism long-term returns insignificantly differ from zero. For operating performance, we find that prior results are a manifestation of abnormal trends in pre-activism performance. Using an appropriately matched sample, we find no evidence of abnormal post-activism performance improvements. Overall, our results do not strongly support the hypothesis that activist interventions drive long-term benefits for the typical shareholder, nor do we find evidence of shareholder harm.
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