Abstract
In the contemporary flurry of hostile corporate takeover activity, the ethics of the practice of greenmail have been called into question. The authors provide an account of greenmail in parallel with Daniel Ellsberg's conception of blackmail, as consisting of two conditions: a threat condition and a compliance condition.
The analysis then proceeds to consider two questions: Is all greenmail morally wrong? Are all hostile takeovers morally wrong? The authors conclude that there is no basis for answering either question in the affirmative. While there is no cause for moral concern per se, the practices of both greenmail and hostile takeovers yield deeper and more interesting questions for the theory of corporate governance.
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R. Edward Freeman is Associate Professor, and Daniel R. Gilbert, Jr. and Carol Jacobson are doctoral students, all in the Department of Strategic Management and Organization, School of Management, University of Minnesota.
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Freeman, R.E., Gilbert, D.R. & Jacobson, C. The ethics of greenmail. J Bus Ethics 6, 165–178 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382861
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382861