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Article

Active Controllers or Wealthy Rentiers?: Large Shareholders in Victorian Public Companies

Details

Citation

Acheson G, Campbell G & Turner JD (2015) Active Controllers or Wealthy Rentiers?: Large Shareholders in Victorian Public Companies. Business History Review, 89 (4), pp. 661-691. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007680515001026

Abstract
This article addresses the issue of whether large shareholders in Victorian public companies were active in the control of companies or were simply wealthy rentiers. Using ownership records for 890 firm-years, we examine the control rights, socio-occupational background, and wealth of large shareholders. We find that many large shareholders had limited voting rights and neither they nor family members were directors. This implies that the majority of public companies in the second half of the nineteenth century cannot be characterized as family companies and that large shareholders are better viewed as wealthy gentlemen capitalists rather than entrepreneurs.

Journal
Business History Review: Volume 89, Issue 4

StatusPublished
Publication date31/12/2015
URL
PublisherCambridge University Press for The President and Fellows of Harvard College
ISSN0007-6805
eISSN2044-768X