How Costly is Corporate Bankruptcy for the CEO?
44 Pages Posted: 16 Dec 2015
There are 2 versions of this paper
How Costly Is Corporate Bankruptcy for the CEO?
Date Written: December 2015
Abstract
We examine CEO career and compensation changes for firms filing for Chapter 11. One-third of the incumbent CEOs maintain executive employment, and these CEOs experience a median compensation change of zero. However, incumbent CEOs leaving the executive labor market suffer a compensation loss with a median present value until age 65 of $7 million (five times pre-departure compensation). The likelihood of leaving decreases with profitability and CEO share ownership. Furthermore, creditor control rights during bankruptcy (through debtor-in-possession financing and large trade credits) appear to effect CEO career change. Despite large equity losses (median $11 million for incumbents who stay until filing), the median incumbent does not reduce his stock ownership as the firm approaches bankruptcy.
Keywords: career change, CEO compensation, labor market capital, personal bankruptcy costs, turnover, wealth loss
JEL Classification: G33, G34, M12
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium
HOME PAGE: http://www.ecgi.org
