Takeover Defenses : The Lay of the Land and Disputed Sign Posts

Takeover defenses have long been a topic of considerable interest to scholars of finance and corporate law. Yet the significant amount of attention that researchers have lavished on the topic have produced surprisingly little scholarly consensus. This chapter considers a number of major topics related to takeover defenses, including the importance and effects of poison pills and staggered boards, the causes and consequences of firms' varied levels of takeover defenses, the connection between takeover defenses and corporate myopia, and the implications of empty voting for takeover defense law and policy. In doing so, it provides an overview of some of the major results and ongoing debates in this sphere, some of the works driving those debates, and areas that seem likely to receive increased attention in the future