The word "whitemail", a coining by analogy with the term "
blackmail
Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat.
As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...
",
typically occurs in economics in the sense of a counter to a
hostile merger, but also has meanings in marketing, fundraising, and bribery.
Economics
In
economics
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
, whitemail is a counter to a
takeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...
arrangement in which the target
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
will sell significantly discounted
stock
Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
to a friendly third party. In return, the third party helps thwart takeover attempts by raising the acquisition price for the opposing bidder, diluting the opposing bidder's number of shares, and increasing the stock holdings of the company.
Politics
Whitemail bribes are used to influence a high-level
elected official
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of the ...
or
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
to perform an illegal or uneconomic act. This type of bribery is common in many developed and developing countries. It typically involves a large amount of money and is usually concealed through means such as fake accounting and documentation or moving the money through
subsidiaries
A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...
.
Fundraising
In
fundraising
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
, whitemail is a donation received without a response form, coupon, statement, or other source identification, so it cannot be attributed to any particular fundraising campaign. These donations often come in generic, white-colored envelopes.
Marketing
Whitemail refers to unsolicited mail sent to marketers from customers. It was also named for coming in generic white envelopes instead of official reply mail offered by companies.
References
Further reading
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*
Marketing
Fundraising
Bribery
Political terminology
Takeover defense
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