Agenda building during activist shareholder campaigns

Guided by agenda–building theory, the relationships among corporate information subsidies and financial media coverage in the 25 largest activist shareholder campaigns in the U.S. stock market over a five-year period (2005–2009) were examined. The results indicate that the issue priorities displayed in both news releases and shareholder letters were generally linked with news content. The results of cross-lag analyses suggest that mutual two-way influence—rather than a unidirectional influence of information subsidies on the news—was the norm during these contests. Agenda building appears to be a contributing factor in successful campaign outcomes.