Buying Brains with M&A: Talent Reallocation, Labor Market Power and Firm Boundaries

15:40-17:00, Friday, June 12, 2026

I-206, Boxue Building

Dr. Yameng FAN is now an Assistant Professor of Finance at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF). She earned her Ph.D. in 2024 from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Economics and Finance. Her research interests include Macro labor and market power.

This paper studies how mergers and acquisitions affect talent reallocation, labor market power and firm boundaries. Using matched firm-worker data from LinkedIn and antitrust-screened M&A events, we show that a completed M&A is followed by higher skilled talent inflows into the acquirer, lower wages for acquirer's workers and more bonus losses for executives absorbed from targets. Firms also expand their boundaries after M&A. We rationalize these findings with a model in which the target privately observes its workers' abilities. Before the merger, the target bids up wages for high-ability workers through counteroffers; after the merger, the acquirer inherits this information and the target disappears as an informed competitor, making talent acquisition cheaper. An extension allowing information leakage to outside employers attenuates the wage-suppression effect.

For more information of the seminar, scan the following QR code(s) to join Tencent QQ group (904 544 292) or WeChat group named "IAER Seminar (4)", please.

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(QR code is valid until May 26, 2026)