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CEO Contract Design: How Do Strong Principals Do It?

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  • Henrik CRONQVIST

    (Claremont McKenna College)

  • Rüdiger FAHLENBRACH

    (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Swiss Finance Institute)

Abstract

We study changes in the design of CEO contracts when firms transition from being public with dispersed shareholders to having strong principals in the form of private equity sponsors. These principals redesign some, but far from all, contract characteristics. There is no evidence that they reduce excessive salary, bonus, and perquisites, but they redesign contracts away from earnings-based and non-financial bonus criteria. They do not change CEO severance cash pay, but they redesign contracts so unvested equity is forfeited by terminated CEOs, and they restrict the resale market for equity. CEO contracts are also redesigned so that a significant fraction of equity grants performance-vests: if the agent does not produce prespecified multiples or IRRs, the equity is forfeited. We find that even these sophisticated principals rely on subjective performance evaluation, use some time-vesting equity, do not use premium options, and do not condition vesting on relative industry performance. We compare the real-world contracts in our sample to contracting theories, and we relate our findings to recent discussions of executive compensation reform.

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  • Henrik CRONQVIST & Rüdiger FAHLENBRACH, "undated". "CEO Contract Design: How Do Strong Principals Do It?," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 11-14, Swiss Finance Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp1114
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    Cited by:

    1. Chua, Ansley & Nasser, Tareque, 2016. "Insider sales in IPOs: Consequences of liquidity needs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-17.
    2. Colonnello, Stefano, 2016. "Executive Compensation, Macroeconomic Conditions, and Cash Flow Cyclicality," IWH Discussion Papers 6/2016, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    3. repec:hrv:faseco:34651704 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Alex Edmans & Xavier Gabaix, 2016. "Executive Compensation: A Modern Primer," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1232-1287, December.
    5. repec:bla:abacus:v:52:y:2016:i:4:p:619-684 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Lu, Erin P. & Lai, Gene C. & Ma, Qingzhong, 2017. "Organizational structure, risk-based capital requirements, and the sales of downgraded bonds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 51-68.
    7. N. Gregory Mankiw, 2013. "Defending the One Percent," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 21-34, Summer.
    8. repec:eee:jfinec:v:125:y:2017:i:2:p:389-415 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Gao, Huasheng & Li, Kai, 2015. "A comparison of CEO pay–performance sensitivity in privately-held and public firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 370-388.
    10. Lindbeck, Assar & Weibull, Jörgen, 2015. "Pay Schemes, Bargaining, and Competition for Talent," Working Paper Series 1100, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Executive compensation; employment contracts; contracting theory; LBOs;

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods

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