Shareholder activism in the Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624

Abstract

The Virginia Company of London (VCL) was founded in 1606 under charter of James I of England. Although successful in terms of founding the longest-lasting, continuously settled English colony in North America at Jamestown, the firm was an abysmal failure for its shareholders, employees, settlers, and managers. Our key finding is that two issues-shareholder activism and the role of the state-each had ambiguous impacts on the firm’s performance, with sometimes positive and sometimes negative consequences.