Managerial attitudes and takeover outcomes: Evidence from corporate filings

We examine the textual content of merger and acquisition related SEC filings in an effort to understand the role of managerial attitudes and beliefs in merger negotiations and outcomes. Using a textual algorithm to identify the degree to which filings of bidders and targets exhibit negative/cautious tones vs positive/optimistic tones, we find that bidders employing the most optimistic language in their filings actually experience the worst long-run performance following the transactions. In contrast, bidding managers who appear to acknowledge and understand the risks of the transactions experience relatively better post-merger performance. Thus our analysis of the textual content of merger filings appears to give us a new method for investigating the role of bidder and target attitudes and beliefs on merger outcomes.