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Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Effect of Passive Investors on Activism

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  • Ian R Appel
  • Todd A Gormley
  • Donald B Keim

Abstract

We analyze whether the growing importance of passive investors has influenced the campaigns, tactics, and successes of activists. We find activists are more likely to seek board representation when a larger share of the target company’s stock is held by passively managed mutual funds. Furthermore, higher passive ownership is associated with increased use of proxy fights, settlements, and a higher likelihood the activist achieves board representation or the sale of the targeted company. Our findings suggest that the recent growth of passive institutional investors mitigates free-rider problems and facilitates activists’ ability to engage in costly, value-enhancing forms of monitoring.Received September 28, 2016; editorial decision August 18, 2018 by Editor Andrew Karolyi.

Suggested Citation

  • Ian R Appel & Todd A Gormley & Donald B Keim, 2019. "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Effect of Passive Investors on Activism," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(7), pages 2720-2774.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:32:y:2019:i:7:p:2720-2774.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhy106
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    Cited by:

    1. Hyoseok (David) Hwang, 2023. "The real effects of local mutual funds: Evidence from corporate innovation," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 272-300, June.
    2. Anand M. Vijh & Jiawei (Brooke) Wang, 2022. "Negative returns on addition to the S&P 500 index and positive returns on deletion? New evidence on the attractiveness of S&P 500 versus S&P 400 indexes," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(4), pages 1127-1164, December.
    3. Dasgupta, Amil & Fos, Vyacheslav & Sautner, Zacharias, 2021. "Institutional investors and corporate governance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112114, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Kitajima, Kiichi, 2022. "Passive investors and concentration of intraday liquidity: Evidence from the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Bar-Isaac, Heski & Shapiro, Joel, 2020. "Blockholder voting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(3), pages 695-717.
    6. Dannhauser, Caitlin D. & Spilker, Harold D., 2023. "The Modern Mutual Fund Family," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(1), pages 1-20.
    7. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Brav, Alon & Jiang, Wei & Keusch, Thomas, 2020. "Dancing with activists," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 1-41.
    8. Bessler, Wolfgang & Vendrasco, Marco, 2022. "Why do companies become hedge fund targets? Evidence from shareholder activism in Germany," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    9. Xiaoran Huang & Zheng Qiao & Lei Zhang, 2021. "The real effects of institutional spatial concentration," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(4), pages 1113-1167, December.
    10. Szu-Yin (Jennifer) Wu & Kee H. Chung, 2022. "Hedge Fund Activism and Corporate M&A Decisions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 1378-1403, February.
    11. Aguilera, Ruth & Bermejo, Vicente & Capapé, Javier & Cuñat, Vicente, 2021. "The systemic governance influence of universal owners: evidence from an expectation document," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118899, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Park, Seongkyu “Gilbert” & Suen, Wing & Wan, Kam-Ming, 2022. "Call auction design and closing price manipulation: Evidence from the Hong Kong stock exchange," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    13. Daniel Schmidt & Bastian von Beschwitz, 2022. "Passive Ownership and Short Selling," International Finance Discussion Papers 1365, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    14. Gormley, Todd A. & Gupta, Vishal K. & Matsa, David A. & Mortal, Sandra C. & Yang, Lukai, 2023. "The Big Three and board gender diversity: The effectiveness of shareholder voice," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(2), pages 323-348.
    15. Wang, Xianjue, 2022. "Disloyal managers and proxy voting," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    16. Anqi Jiao, 2022. "A hidden hand in corporate lobbying," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 357-397, June.
    17. Farizo, Joseph D., 2022. "(Black)Rock the vote: Index funds and opposition to management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Jun Wang & Qijian Wang, 2021. "Influence or Preference? A New Look at Institutional Ownership and Earnings Management," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-17, October.
    19. Gilje, Erik P. & Gormley, Todd A. & Levit, Doron, 2020. "Who's paying attention? Measuring common ownership and its impact on managerial incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 152-178.
    20. Azar, José & Duro, Miguel & Kadach, Igor & Ormazabal, Gaizka, 2021. "The Big Three and corporate carbon emissions around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 674-696.
    21. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2020. "Institutional investors' horizons and corporate employment decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    22. Alessio M. Pacces, 2021. "Will the EU Taxonomy Regulation Foster Sustainable Corporate Governance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.

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