Meme Corporate Governance

41 Pages Posted: 7 Feb 2023 Last revised: 28 Mar 2023

See all articles by Dhruv Aggarwal

Dhruv Aggarwal

Yale University, School of Management

Albert H. Choi

University of Michigan Law School; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Yoon-Ho Alex Lee

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

Date Written: March 1, 2023

Abstract

In 2021, several publicly traded companies, such as GameStop and AMC, experienced a dramatic influx of retail investors in their shareholder base. This Article analyzes the impact of the “meme stock surge” phenomenon on the companies, particularly with respect to their governance outcomes and structures. The paper presents three principal findings. First, as a preliminary matter, we show how the “meme stock” frenzy was affected by the introduction of the commission-free trading platform, such as Robinhood, in 2019. We show empirically that the meme stock companies experienced a larger trading volume when commission-free trading was widely introduced. Second, we examine how the influx of retail shareholders has directly affected the governance outcomes at the meme stock companies. The main finding is that, notwithstanding the promise of more active shareholder base, meme stock companies have experienced a significant decrease in participation by their shareholders with respect to voting, and shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8 have also been extremely limited (non-existent in most meme stock companies). Third, we examine other popular governance metrics—such as ESG and board diversity indices—and show that while the diversity index has not improved, the ESG measure has gotten worse for the meme stock companies. While limited to meme stock companies, our findings show that the sudden influx of retail shareholders at these companies have not translated into more “democratic” governance regimes.

Keywords: Meme Stock, Retail Investors, Corporate Governance, Shareholder Voting, ESG

Suggested Citation

Aggarwal, Dhruv and Choi, Albert H. and Lee, Yoon-Ho Alex, Meme Corporate Governance (March 1, 2023). U of Michigan Law & Econ Research Paper Forthcoming, European Corporate Governance Institute - Law Working Paper No. 681/2023, Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 23-17, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4347885 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4347885

Dhruv Aggarwal

Yale University, School of Management ( email )

New Haven, CT
United States

Albert H. Choi (Contact Author)

University of Michigan Law School ( email )

625 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.umich.edu/FacultyBio/Pages/FacultyBio.aspx?FacID=alchoi

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://ecgi.global/users/albert-h-choi

Yoon-Ho Alex Lee

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law ( email )

375 E. Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
United States
(312) 503-2565 (Phone)

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