TY  - JOUR
AU  - Moeller,Sara B.
AU  - Schlingemann,Frederik P.
AU  - Stulz,Rene M.
TI  - Do shareholders of acquiring firms gain from acquisitions?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9523
PY  - 2003
Y2  - March 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9523
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9523.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sara B. Moeller
Katz Graduate School of Business
University of Pittsburgh
360 Mervis Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
E-Mail: sbmoeller@katz.pitt.edu

Frederik P. Schlingemann
Katz Graduate School of Business
University of Pittsburgh
372 Mervis Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
E-Mail: schlinge@katz.pitt.edu

Rene M. Stulz
The Ohio State University
Fisher College of Business
806A Fisher Hall
Columbus, OH 43210-1144
Tel: 614/292-1970
Fax: 614/292-2359
E-Mail: stulz_1@cob.osu.edu
AB  - We examine a sample of 12,023 acquisitions by public firms from 1980 to 2001. Shareholders of these firms lost a total of $218 billion when acquisitions were announced. Though shareholders lose throughout our sample period, losses associated with acquisition announcements after 1997 are dramatic. Small firms gain from acquisitions, so that shareholders of small firms gained $8 billion when acquisitions were announced and shareholders of large firms lost $226 billion. We examine the cross-sectional variation in the announcement returns of acquisitions. Small firm shareholders earn systematically more when acquisitions are announced. This size effect is typically more important than how an acquisition is financed and than the organizational form of the assets acquired. The only acquisitions that have positive aggregate gains are acquisitions of subsidiaries.
ER  -