Externalities of Hedge Fund Activism on the Suppliers of the Targeted firms. How Does Activism Affect All Parties Involved?

The world of hedge fund activism has been heavily reviewed by academics and journalists. However, academics have truly only looked at the most immediate consequences of activism by primarily researching the changes in the company targeted. Although important, this neglects the spillover impacts of activism. How can individuals definitively say shareholder activists are good or bad without looking at all of the effects of their presence? To help answer this question, the focus of this paper surrounds the externalities of hedge fund activism on the suppliers of target companies. The results particularly emphasize certain financial metrics, calculating their change over time as a result of the presence of an activist. Ultimately, the results show that the presence of an activist has a significantly negative effect on supplier firms, harming operating income margin and D&A while increasing restructuring costs