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Founder-CEOs, Investment Decisions, and Stock Market Performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

Rüdiger Fahlenbrach
Rüdiger Fahlenbrach*
Affiliation:
Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210. [email protected]
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Abstract

Eleven percent of the largest public U.S. firms are headed by the CEO who founded the firm. Founder-CEO firms differ systematically from successor-CEO firms with respect to firm valuation, investment behavior, and stock market performance. Founder-CEO firms invest more in research and development, have higher capital expenditures, and make more focused mergers and acquisitions. An equal-weighted investment strategy that had invested in founder-CEO firms from 1993 to 2002 would have earned a benchmark-adjusted return of 8.3% annually. The excess return is robust; after controlling for a wide variety of firm characteristics, CEO characteristics, and industry affiliation, the abnormal return is still 4.4% annually. The implications of the investment behavior and stock market performance of founder-CEO firms are discussed.

Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 439 - 466
Copyright
Copyright © Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington 2009

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