noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The profiting from an attempted hostile takeover by forcing the target company to buy back the hostile bidder's shares at an inflated price. countable, uncountable

   "Greenmails typically result in reduced shareholder value."

2. 2
   (corporation) the practice of purchasing enough shares in a firm to threaten a takeover and thereby forcing the owners to buy those shares back at a premium in order to stay in business wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   To profit from an attempted hostile takeover by forcing the target company to buy back the hostile bidder's shares at an inflated price. transitive

Example

More examples

"Greenmails typically result in reduced shareholder value."

Etymology

Blend of greenback + blackmail.

Related phrases

anti-greenmailhostile takeover

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.