The examination of causes and shareholder wealth effects of acquisitions is one of the most researched areas in corporate finance. This paper surveys selected articles that focus mainly on returns to buyer firms’ shareholders. Recent literature confirms the evidence that corporate takeovers are highly profitable for the targets but poorly profitable for the acquirers. The recent M&A wave seems to reinforce this conclusion. Several papers focus on behavioural explanations and provide empirical evidence of acquiring-CEO overconfidence.