International Journal of Business and Economics Volume 9, No. 1 April​, 2010

Classified Boards and Managerial Entrenchment: Evidence from Seasoned Equity Offerings

Ranadeb Chaudhuri

Department of Accounting and Finance, Oakland University, U.S.A.

Hoontaek Seo

Commerce Department, Niagara University, U.S.A.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of classified boards on the market reaction to seasoned equity offering (SEO) announcements and the operating performance following SEOs. We find that firms with classified boards on average earn lower SEO announcement returns and have worse abnormal operating performance following SEOs relative to firms with unitary boards. Our results support the view that classified boards entrench managers and are ineffective in preventing them from misusing funds raised in SEOs.

Keywords：classified boards, secondary equity offering, managerial entrenchment.

JEL Classifications：G31, G32, G34.

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