Sky Blog
Given their importance to corporate governance and often impressive credentials and experience, , many directors are “busy,” meaning they hold concurrent board appointments across multiple firms. These so-called “interlocks” between companies are a growing phenomenon, but not a new one. …
The digital economy has put antitrust regulation in the spotlight, with increasingly dominant technology companies – such as Amazon, Google, Facebook (Meta), Apple, and Microsoft – reviving concerns about private monopolies reminiscent of Standard Oil and AT&T. Yet the enforcement …
Class-action litigation for fraud on the market typically focuses on purchasers and sellers of stock. Yet those that traded in options on the shares can also be harmed. In a recent paper, we draw from experience in In re Apple, …
Our economy is dominated by five aging tech giants – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. Each of these firms was founded more than 20 years ago: Apple and Microsoft in the 1970s, Google and Amazon in the 1990s, and …
The subscription streaming market, dominated by some of the world’s most innovative companies (Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and Google) is surprisingly homogenous: same products, same prices, same catalogs. At the same time, there are countless other music streaming startups that have …
Big technology (Big Tech) firms – globally active digital platforms or tech companies – generate extensive user data that allow them to engage in a variety of businesses, including financial services and products. While often discussed as part of the …
In the late 2000s, eight prominent tech firms – including Google, Apple, Intuit, and LucasFilms – were accused of enforcing anti-poaching agreements that stifled worker mobility. The seven publicly listed firms in the group shared a number of directors, and …
Actively managed mutual funds invest with the goal of outperforming a benchmark index or achieving an investment objective. Many academic studies focus on whether mutual funds outperform benchmark returns and debate whether abnormal returns can be attributed to skill or …
Is big business ungovernable? Some of today’s calls to break up and intensely regulate big business do not hinge on harms to consumers as consumers, but rather on the claim that giant corporations with market power treat legal requirements as …
CEOs, in particular founder-CEOs, are often visionaries with strong beliefs about the right strategic direction for their firms. For example, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs was known to be obsessed with product quality and design. The strategy to produce …
In a recent study, we examine whether firms structure their mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to avoid scrutiny from antitrust regulators as well as whether such deals reduce product market competition.
While M&A deals are often triggered to create value, they …
In a new article, I use network theory to show that there is a hidden link between insider trading and macroeconomic risk. I suggest that current laws on insider trading increase the level of macroeconomic risk for the economy, and …
Recent SEC enforcement actions charging senior lawyers at Apple and SeaWorld with insider trading provide reason to dust off company insider trading policies and assess whether updates or additional training are needed. As sanctuaries for corporate America’s most valuable confidential …
Compliance programs are ubiquitous and necessary in today’s institutions, yet these programs often fail to prevent misconduct. When investigating Michigan State University in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal, for instance, the NCAA found no flaw with the university’s …
A federal court recently held that there was no antitrust problem with AT&T purchasing Time Warner for $86 billion. In the judge’s view, this consolidation didn’t offend the merger law as it now is interpreted. Nor could many far-larger transactions …