Using a European private firm sample, we conduct a dynamic empirical analysis of private firm exit choice, previously modeled as a one-time IPO versus acquisition decision. Going public may yield firms a valuation premium (over a direct acquisition) through a post-IPO acquisition, but may also...

Using data on anti-takeover provisions (ATPs) and top management characteristics hand-collected from IPO prospectuses, we analyze the effect of the pre-IPO innovativeness and the top management quality of private firms on the number and strength of ATPs in IPO firm charters. We test the...

We present the first analysis in the literature of the relationship between the quality and reputation of a firm's management and the prevalence of anti-takeover provisions in the corporate charters of IPO firms, and the influence of this relationship on post-IPO performance. We test the...

Using a unique sample of plant level data from the Longitudinal Research Database of the U.S. Census Bureau, which enables us to correctly identify the parent and spun-off entities prior to spin-offs, we establish that efficiency improves following spin-offs. A spin-off refers to the separation...

We empirically analyze the rationale for adopting anti-takeover provisions (ATPs) by examining how ATPs affect corporate spin-offs. We find that firms protected by more ATPs before spin-offs have higher abnormal announcement returns and greater improvement in post-spin-off operating performance...

Using a unique sample of plant level data from the Longitudinal Research Database of the U.S. Census Bureau, which enables us to correctly identify the parent and spun-off entities prior to spin-offs, we establish that efficiency improves following spin-offs. A spin-off refers to the separation...

We develop a theoretical analysis of the choice of firms between fixed-price offerings and uniform-price auctions for selling shares in IPOs and privatizations. We consider a setting in which a firm goes public by selling a fraction of its equity in an IPO market where insiders have private...

At what point in a firm's life should it go public? How do a firm's ex ante product market characteristics relate to its going public decision? Further, what are the implications of a firm going public on its post-IPO operating and product market performance? In this paper, we answer the above...

Using a hand-collected data set of private firm acquisitions and IPOs, this paper develops the first empirical analysis in the literature of the "IPO valuation premium puzzle," which refers to a situation where many private firms choose to be acquired rather than to go public at higher...

The U.S. equity markets have experienced a remarkable decline in IPOs since 2000, both in terms of smaller IPO volume and entrepreneurial firms' greater tendency to exit through acquisitions rather than IPOs. Using proprietary U.S. Census data on private firms, we conduct a comprehensive...