greenmail

American  

[green-meyl] / ˈgrinˌmeɪl /

noun

Stock Exchange.

1. the practice of buying a large block of a company's stock in order to force a rise in stock prices or an offer by the company to repurchase that block of stock at an inflated price to thwart a possible takeover bid.

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greenmail British  

/ ˈɡriːnˌmeɪl /

noun

1. (esp in the US) the practice of a company buying sufficient shares in another company to threaten takeover and making a quick profit as a result of the threatened company buying back its shares at a higher price

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Other Word Forms

• greenmailer noun

Etymology

Origin of greenmail

green (in sense “money”) + (black)mail

Example Sentences

Fiss said that companies often try to make corporate raiders go away quietly by paying a premium for the shares they acquired, a practice known as greenmail.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2022

Maybe the evidence was weak, and GE paid the equivalent of greenmail just to make the SEC go away.

From BusinessWeek • Feb. 10, 2011

Q. You call this a post-business society, but predatory takeovers and greenmail are still with us.

From Time Magazine Archive

Widening its probe of illegal insider trading, the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed unsettling new details of the Ivan Boesky case, while disputes flared over the use of so-called greenmail tactics in takeover battles.

From Time Magazine Archive

In past forays, Icahn has sometimes walked away with hefty greenmail profits.

From Time Magazine Archive