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Brian Walkup

Brian Walkup, Ph.D.

Professor of Finance

I love having the opportunity to interact with students and help them master topics that will be valuable throughout their careers. Having students follow up years later and describe situations where what they learned in my classroom helped them is a very satisfying feeling. I also enjoy the opportunity to research topics that I find interesting and feel will impact how we understand the decisions businesses make, as well as improve the classroom experience for my students.

Dr. Brian Walkup’s research is focused on the implications of corporate finance decisions including mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and payout policy. In addition to his work in corporate finance, Brian does research on the intersection between sports and finance and has made major contributions to the understanding of the financial implications of sport sponsorship and sport ownership structures. His research has been published in numerous financial, sport management, and other cross-disciplinary academic journals. Brian is often sought for expert commentary by the local media, particularly regarding personal finance and personal finance education. In the classroom, he has been recognized for his ability to make complex financial topics relatable and understandable and provide his students with the skills to create value in their future roles.

Brian’s expertise has led to engagements with a wide array of companies ranging from Fortune 50 firms and financial institutions to minor league baseball teams and local nonprofits. He has engaged with firms as an invited expert on financial topics and as an external consultant, both individually and as part of student engagements.

Dr. Walkup received his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Florida, his MBA with concentrations in Finance and Management from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, and his B.S. in Mathematics from Trevecca Nazarene University. Prior to returning to Crummer as a faculty member in 2018, Brian was the H. Michael Krimbill Finance Fellow and Associate Professor of Finance at The University of Tulsa.

Brian lives in Winter Park along with his wife and son. They are heavily engaged in the local community and enjoy spending time in local youth sports as well as attending local professional and college sporting events.

Research & Articles

Co-authored with Patty Bick, Matthew Crook, and Andrew Lynch. | Journal of Financial Research, 2017.

Using a sample of mergers and acquisitions from 1985 to 2014, we examine the impact of proximity between target and acquirer as a measure of information asymmetry. We find geographic distance has a significant impact on acquisitions premiums and time to completion, conditional on the size of the target firm. Small targets receive lower premiums and have a faster time to completion the closer they are to their acquirer. Conversely, large targets have a slower time to deal completion the closer their proximity. We conclude geographic distance has a substantial impact on acquisitions.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jfir.12115

Co-authored with Adrien Bouchet, Thomas Doellman, and Mike Troilo. | Journal of Sport Management, 2017.

Gaining exclusive sponsorship rights to international football club apparel has become increasingly competitive, resulting in larger deal values. The first objective of this study was to analyze the effect of kit sponsorship announcements on the underlying value of sponsoring firms. Utilizing event study analysis, we found that firms announcing kit sponsorships experience negative abnormal returns. This finding may not be surprising given the fierce competition for obtaining valuable, scarce marketing space and the well-known winner’s curse. The second objective was to shed further light on the value of kit sponsorship deals by conducting a novel test in which we analyzed a subset of sample observations where the kit sponsorship changed to a new sponsor. We found that firms may be willing to overpay for sponsorships to pre-empt their direct competitors from obtaining valuable, scarce marketing space. Firms losing a pre-existing sponsorship to a direct competitor experience large negative abnormal returns.

https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2016-0151

Co-authored with Jonathan Jensen and Lane Wakefield. | Journal of Sport Management, 2022.

Using a sample of mergers and acquisitions from 1985 to 2014, we examine the impact of proximity between target and acquirer as a measure of information asymmetry. We find geographic distance has a significant impact on acquisitions premiums and time to completion, conditional on the size of the target firm. Small targets receive lower premiums and have a faster time to completion the closer they are to their acquirer. Conversely, large targets have a slower time to deal completion the closer their proximity. We conclude geographic distance has a substantial impact on acquisitions.

https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2021-0292