If consumers wholly or partially control a …rm with market power they will charge less than the pro…t maximising price. Starting at the usual monopoly price, a small price reduction will have a second order e¤ect on pro…ts but a …rst order e¤ect on consumer surplus. Despite this desirable static result, it has been argued that cooperatives are vulnerable to take-over by outsiders who will run them as for-pro…t businesses. This paper studies takeovers of cooperatives. We argue that cooperatives are in fact quite stable due to the Grossman-Hart problem of free riding during takeovers.