Eyes on the prize: CEO and director retirement preferences and acquisitions

We examine whether the age of CEOs and independent directors impacts the likelihood of receiving a successful takeover offer. First, we replicate and confirm the results of Jenter and Lewellen and find that retirement age CEOs (age 64-66) are more likely to receive successful takeover offers. Second, we extend their study by investigating the retirement preferences of independent directors. We find that the likelihood of receiving a successful takeover offer increases when a higher proportion of independent directors are at retirement age. This finding suggests that independent directors have similar retirement preferences to CEOs.