Help with basic subsetting of first movers vs. followers

Dataset:
128 000 merger bids between 01/01/1980 and 31/12/2020.

Relevant variables:

  • Announcement date (dd/mm/yyyy)
  • Acquiror ID (6-digit number)
  • Target ID (6-digit number)

Each acquiror and target can appear multiple times (as an acquiror can acquire multiple targets and there can be multiple acquirors bidding on a target).

I have created a subset of targets that are subject to bidding competition, meaning targets that appear multiple times with different acquirors.

I now want to subset this sample into first-bidders and followers.

  • First-bidder: announcement date before other bids for the same target
  • Follower: announcement date after first bid for the same target

Preferably, acquirors should be grouped so that bids for a target are no more than 12 months apart. If not, there might not actually be competition as a target could be acquired by one firm and then acquired by another years late.

I'm looking for help on how to program the first-bidder vs. follower subsetting.

Anyone willing to help?

Hi!

To help us help you, could you please prepare a reproducible example (reprex) illustrating your issue? Please have a look at this guide, to see how to create one:

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