All that glitters is not gold: CEOs' celebrity beyond media content

Mass media are known to be powerful in directing the public's attention towards specific issues, socially shaping individual's opinions and investors' behaviour in financial markets. Applying textual analysis, event study, and regression analysis methodologies on a large hand‐collected database of newspapers articles mentioning Italian listed companies' CEOs, chairmen, and vice‐chairmen, over a time span of 16 years, we observe how the content of newspaper articles, the visibility of directors, and the mention by the press of celebrity and not famous directors influence stock market prices. Results reveal that celebrity status is not necessarily associated with positive emotional responses: Besides the impact of the content of the news, visibility and celebrity are rather associated with a negative impact on investors' opinion; on the other hand, scarce visibility does not drive any additional effect on stock market prices.