It Takes Two: The Incidence and Effectiveness of Co-CEOs
Matteo P. Arena
Stephen P. Ferris
University of Missouri at Columbia - Department of Finance
University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Financial Review, Forthcoming
This study examines the phenomenon of co-CEOs within publicly traded firms. Although shared executive leadership is not widespread, it occurs within some very prominent firms. We find that co-CEOs generally complement each other in terms of educational background or executive responsibilities. Our results show that firms most likely to appoint co-CEOs have lower leverage, a more limited firm focus, less independent board structure, fewer advising directors, lower institutional ownership and greater levels of merger activity. The governance structure of co-CEO firms suggest that co-CEOships can serve as an alternative governance mechanism, with co-CEO mutual monitoring substituting for board or external monitoring and co-CEO complementary skills substituting for board advising. An event study indicates that the market reacts positively to appointments of co-CEOs while a propensity score analysis shows that the presence of co-CEOs increases firm valuation.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 44
Keywords: CEOs, Shared Leadership, Co-CEOs, Corporate Governance
JEL Classification: G3, G34Accepted Paper Series
Date posted: February 12, 2011 ; Last revised: February 16, 2011
© 2014 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This page was processed by apollo6 in 0.312 seconds