Do founder CEOs impact IPO performance: an empirical study on founder CEOs' effect on IPO performance in Sweden

Abstract: This paper studies founder CEOs' impact on IPO performance, employing upper echelons, principal-agent, organisational life cycle, and signalling theories to address the potential differences between founder CEO-led firms and non-founder CEO-led firms. IPO performance is measured using initial return and 3-month return. A sample of 259 IPOs in Sweden between 2011 and 2021 is used to perform multiple OLS regressions. The statistical tests do not find a significant relationship between founder CEOs and IPO performance. A potential explanation for the findings is that favourable founder CEO characteristics are counteracted by negative characteristics associated with founder CEOs. Instead, the results indicate that other CEO characteristics and firm performance measures are significantly related to IPO performance. Despite no significant association being identified between founder CEOs and IPO performance, this thesis contributes to the field of research by examining founder CEO status in the Swedish IPO market, an institutional setting that has not previously been explored by published research.