Hostile Corporate Takeovers: Why and How Their Numbers Grow

Hostile corporate acquisitions, which were virtually non‐existent a decade ago, have currently become one of the most publicized types of business transactions. Rumors about takeovers have had an enormous impact on stock market trading volume and price behavior for the past several years. This paper traces the legal, regulatory, and financial developments of the 1980s which have created an environment favorable to hostile takeovers, and it discusses controversial behaviors of corporate acquirers and defenders.