Recent technological innovations and changes in governmental regulations both affect information dissemination; within this context, we use this paper to reassess the role of information asymmetry in corporate spin-off decisions. Analyzing spin-off deals from 1980 to 2017, we find that information asymmetry does not significantly influence spin-off decisions. Specifically, there is neither substantial disparity in levels of information asymmetry between spin-off firms and their counterparts, nor marked improvements after breakups. This remains true even when we account for events such as the Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) and the types of spin-offs themselves. Additionally, no evidence exists to suggest that firms with greater information asymmetry are more inclined to spin off. Contrary to findings in the literature, information asymmetry does not explain observed positive abnormal returns around spin-off announcements; instead, the misvaluation of spin-off firms correlates more closely with their pre-spin-off investment efficiency. These findings suggest a shift in primary drivers behind corporate spin-offs: a diminished focus on information asymmetry and stronger attention instead to investment inefficiencies and misvaluation in response to evolving market conditions.

最近的技术创新和政府法规的变化都会影响信息传播；在此背景下，我们利用本文重新评估信息不对称在企业分拆决策中的作用。分析1980年至2017年的分拆交易，我们发现信息不对称并没有显着影响分拆决策。具体而言，分拆后的企业与其同行之间的信息不对称程度并没有显着差异，分拆后也没有明显改善。即使我们考虑了公平披露法规 (Reg FD) 和分拆本身的类型等事件，情况仍然如此。此外，没有证据表明信息不对称程度较高的公司更倾向于分拆。与文献中的发现相反，信息不对称并不能解释围绕分拆公告观察到的正异常回报；相反，分拆公司的估值错误与其分拆前的投资效率密切相关。这些发现表明，企业分拆背后的主要驱动因素发生了转变：人们不再那么关注信息不对称，而是更加关注投资效率低下和估值错误，以应对不断变化的市场状况。