The Attention Of Media, The Government’s Behavior And The Corporate Performance In M&A

In the information age, the social function of the media is more and more important. The media has become an important way of information transmission and it is also an important external mechanism of corporate governance. Foreign and domestic scholars continue exploring media attention’s influence on the performance of corporations. The government plays an important role in all kinds of societies, especially in China. This paper studies the behaviors of the government from three aspects: whether the majority shareholder is the government or not, the relationship between government and market and the legal system environment. The performance of M & A is affected by many factors. This paper is mainly about this point and analyzes the differences under the government’s different behavior.In this paper, the media’s attention and the performance of M & A is the research’s subject. Then join the government behaviors, including whether the majority shareholder is the government or not, the relationship between government and market and the legal system environment, to examine the difference changes. Listing corporations which had M&A actions between 2008 and 2013 are the object of study. After the sample screening, there are 3028 valid samples left.The conclusions of this paper are as follows. Firstly, whether measured by reporting times of newspaper or network searching times, media’s attention shows a significantly positive correlation with the performance of M&A. Secondly, when media’s attention is measured by reporting times of newspaper, the influence of newspaper reports on performance of M&A is relatively weaker in state-owned companies. Thirdly, when media’s attention is measured by network searching times, the influence of newspaper reports on performance of M&A, whether to state-owned enterprises or non-state-owned enterprises, has no significant differences. Fourthly, when media’s attention is measured by reporting times of newspaper, the influence of newspaper reports on performance of M&A is relatively weaker where the relationship between government and market is not good. Fifthly, when media’s attention is measured by network searching times, the influence of newspaper reports has no significant differences no matter how the relationship between government and market looks like. Sixthly, in the area where legal environment is better, the degree of positive relation between media’s attention and performance of M&A is stronger.Based on the results of the study, this paper puts forward several suggestions. Firstly, protect medias’ rights to report and improve the degree of freedom. Secondly, regulate the competition mechanism of the media market. Thirdly, reduce administrative intervention to create better external environment. At last, improve the legal system to protect the legitimate rights and interests of people.