Governance under common ownership

Abstract

Conventional wisdom is that diversification weakens governance by spreading investors too thinly. We show that, when investors own multiple firms ("common ownership"), governance through both voice and exit can strengthen-even if the firms are in unrelated industries. Under common ownership, informed investors have flexibility over which assets to sell upon a liquidity shock. They sell low-quality firms first, thereby increasing price informativeness. In a voice model, investors' incentives to monitor are stronger since "cutting and running" is less profitable. In an exit model, managers' incentives to work are stronger since the price impact of investor selling is greater.