Shares

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are blank check companies that raise funds through initial public offerings (IPOs) to merge with private firms. In 2021, the U.S. saw a surge in SPAC deals, with 613 IPOs raising over $161 billion. This rise in popularity contrasts with SPACs mixed performance, which has caught the attention of regulators. We ... Read More

The “short-termism” induced by executive pay schemes is a major problem for firms and investors. Allen H. Huang of HKUST, together with overseas colleagues, provides important new insights into the negative consequences of executive myopia. The researchers examined the share repurchasing and mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) behavior of firms whose CEOs have ... Read More

When firms announce they will repurchase shares, the market tends to see this as good news and responds positively – even though there is no requirement on the firm to actually repurchase. In fact, a number of firms never do so. So why does the market react as it does? Researchers Utpal Bhattacharya and Stacey Jacobsen think they have an answer: the ... Read More