CEO succession at many companies occurs in a black box. Shareholders are not privy to boardroom discussions prior to the announcement of a CEO departure, and press releases announcing the change contain boilerplate language that does not make it clear whether the CEO stepped down voluntary or...

Using U.S. states' staggered enactment of majority voting legislation (MVL) as plausibly negative exogenous shocks to director job security, we find an increase in the unconditional likelihood of forced CEO turnover and the sensitivity of forced CEO turnover to firm performance following its...