Abstract: M&A performance commitment default events occur frequently. This paper chooses listed companies that signed M&A performance commitment from May 18th 2008 to December 31st 2015 as samples to analyze changes in performance of listed companies after the mergers and acquisitions performance commitment expiry from three levels and the effects of whether the M&A performance commitment realizes or not and different compensation methods on performance of listed companies. The results are as follows: after the compensation commitment expiry, the operating performance of listed company will decline; the operating performance of listed company whose M&A target achieves the performance goal is better than the listed company whose M&A target does not achieve the performance goal; the operating performance of listed company that obtains stock compensation is significantly better than the listed company that obtains cash compensation. This study is expected to provide a more comprehensive evidence for the implementation of the mergers and acquisitions performance commitment policy, and provide policy reference for the establishment of a more effective compensation mechanism.

Key words: merger and acquisition, compensation commitment, compensation type, operating performance