Horizontal shareholdings exist when a common set of investors own significant shares in corporations that are horizontal competitors in a product market. Economic models show that substantial horizontal shareholdings are likely to anticompetitively raise prices when the owned businesses compete...

This paper surveys the literature criticizing the view that managers should run companies aiming to create shareholder value by maximizing stock prices. Based on a multidisciplinary approach, I include empirical and theoretical papers from fields such as corporate law, management, finance,...

Controlling shareholders often pledge their ownership in the firm to offer collateral for either their personal loans or loans to the firm. Pledging of shares modifies their payoff structure, without altering their control rights. This modification in the payoff structure can influence the...

We explore the importance of cash for shaping rivalry outside the product domain by studying its implications for firms defending against patent litigation by rivals. War chests of cash can make firms more formidable targets, reducing rivals' expected gains from litigation. However, cash...

This research examines the relation between shareholder litigation and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Exploiting exogenous changes in shareholder litigation rights following the staggered adoption of universal demand laws by U.S. states and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling on...

Although empirical studies show that common shareholding affects corporate conduct and that common horizontal shareholding lessens competition, critics have argued that the law should not take any action until we have clearer proof on the causal mechanisms. I show that we actually have ample...

Horizontal shareholding exists when significant shareholders have stock in horizontal competitors. (It is often imprecisely called "common shareholding," but that term can also apply when shareholders own stock in two noncompeting corporations. It differs from "cross-shareholding," which...

This Article shows that new economic proofs and empirical evidence provide powerful confirmation that, even when horizontal shareholders individually have minority stakes, horizontal shareholding in concentrated markets often has anticompetitive effects. The new economic proofs show that,...

In this paper, we propose a model including the trading stage (acquisition of shares and blockholder disclosure) and the governance stage of activism. We analyze the blockholder's timing of disclosure, allowing for a strategic behavior. In some cases, the blockholder voluntarily renounces to use...