Disproportionate insider control and firm performance

摘要

The effect of disproportionate insider control on firm performance is ambiguous. Disproportionate control may enhance insiders' ability to expropriate perquisites; on the other hand, it may provide stability of management and reduce short-term market pressures. Using a hand-collected sample of U.S. dual-class firms, we find that disproportionate control is positively associated with accounting-based performance, but negatively associated with Tobin's Q. These results are consistent with the incentives of entrenched insiders who are interested in profitability but less beholden to capital markets.