Who is willing to be rich and king? Founder-CEOs’ IPO and M&A intentions

Founder-chief executive officers (founder-CEOs) have several reasons for starting businesses but often struggle to pursue shareholder wealth and firm control. By conducting a survey of start-up firms in the manufacturing and information service sectors in Japan, we examine founder-CEOs’ initial public offering (IPO) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) intentions. We propose an analytical approach from the perspective of shareholder wealth and firm control, and estimate the determinants of founder-CEOs’ IPO and M&A intentions. Our findings indicate that start-up firms with innovation resources, including new products and service and intellectual property, are more likely to seek IPOs. In addition, growth-oriented firms and founder-CEOs with prior entrepreneurial experience are more likely to seek IPOs and M&A. Moreover, younger founder-CEOs are more likely to have IPOs and M&A intentions. Furthermore, this study identifies founder-CEOs’ rich and king positions by providing the similarities and differences in the determinants of IPO and M&A intentions.