Publication Type

Working Paper

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

1-2015

Abstract

We study the relation between company value and the interplay between CEO power, CEO equity incentives and the friendliness of the board of directors. Following Bebchuk, Cremers and Peyer (2011), we measure CEO power as the proportion paid to the CEO of the total compensation paid to the top five executives of the firm. We find that strong CEO equity incentives and the presence of a friendly board of directors both individually moderate the negative effect of CEO power on Tobin’s q. Moreover, these variables also work together. We find that firm value tends to increase when equity incentives are combined with a friendly board. We conclude that the negative effects of CEO power on firm value are limited to firms with weak CEO equity incentive compensation plans and arms-length boards of directors.

Keywords

CEO power, social connections, corporate governance

Discipline

Finance and Financial Management

Research Areas

Finance

Identifier

10.2139/ssrn.2594993

Publisher

SSRN

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2594993

Share

COinS