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Blockholder voting

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  • Bar-Isaac, Heski
  • Shapiro, Joel

Abstract

Blockholders play a large role in corporate governance. We examine their voting behavior by adding a voter with many votes, i.e., a blockholder, to a standard voting model. A blockholder may not vote with all of her shares. This is efficient because it prevents her from drowning out the information in others’ votes. This effect holds even when shares may be traded. Consequently, regulations prohibiting abstention will harm information aggregation, though such regulations may promote information acquisition by blockholders. We extend the model by allowing: the blockholder to announce her information upfront, the possibility of blockholder bias, and asymmetric priors.

Suggested Citation

  • Bar-Isaac, Heski & Shapiro, Joel, 2020. "Blockholder voting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(3), pages 695-717.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:136:y:2020:i:3:p:695-717
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2019.11.005
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Blockholder; Shareholder voting; Corporate governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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