New paper reports that:
Against the lively debate on whether a staggered board (SB) of directors hurts or benefits stockholders I present new evidence suggesting that in general, an SB has no significant effect on stock value. The evidence is based on the effects of two Delaware court rulings in 2010 in the case of Airgas on stock prices of Delaware companies that could be affected by these rulings. The October 8 ruling weakened the potency of the SB for companies that have their annual meeting late in the year and the November 23 decision restored its potency. (A detailed description of these rulings appears in a post on the Forum here.) ...
It seems that the value effect of an SB is idiosyncratic. It benefits stockholders in well-managed companies and harms firm value in badly managed ones. It is doubtful that one can make a general statement on the value effect of an SB, as some participants in this debate do.
The full paper is available here.
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