Firms' Disclosure Strategies and Users' Information Acquisition

I study how firms' disclosure strategies affect information acquisition. I define smoothing (bundling) as firms disclosing events that occur on the same (different) day(s) on different (the same) date(s). Examining non-earnings 8-Ks from 2003 to 2017, I find that smoothed 8-Ks receive more downloads. Also, bundled 8-Ks receive more downloads in the short run but fewer in the long run. In addition, smoothing and bundling effects persist when controlling for news sentiment and materiality, suggesting that users react to disclosure strategies even if information leaks before 8-K releases. Furthermore, the relation between disclosure strategies and information acquisition varies across mandatory and voluntary 8-Ks and various 8-K items, with users reacting stronger to the strategic disclosure of 8-K events that are less controllable in timing. These results suggest that bundling boosts short-term information acquisition but discourages it in the long run, while smoothing mitigates the negative consequences of disclosure overload.