Malmendier and Tate (2008) argue that mergers should increase shareholder wealth if CEOs act in the interest of their shareholders. Yet, acquiring shareholders lost over $220 billion at the announcement of merger bids from 1980 to 2001 (Moeller et al., 2005). (Malmendier and Tate (2008) attribute this outcome to:

Group of answer choices

a. tax inefficiencies due to a merger

b. lenders cutting off credit lines due to the merger

c. CEO overconfidence

d. accounting irregularities when reporting earnings of the combined entity