Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

CEO Departures Have Reached a Record High with Almost 2,000
The Daily Upside ^ | 12/23/2024 | Griffin Kelly

Posted on 12/24/2024 5:39:12 AM PST by T.B. Yoits

The nameplates on CEO offices are changing at what appears to be an historic pace.

In the first 11 months of the year, 1,991 CEOs announced their departures, according to a report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s up 16% compared with the same timeframe last year and the highest tally on record since the firm began tracking CEO changes in 2002.

This year’s high-profile breakups included Nike and John Donahoe, Intel and Pat Gelsinger, and Boeing and Dave Calhoun. With the economy going strong, the stock market on a two-year bull run, and consumer spending trending upward, corporate boards are demanding more from their CEOs and — in some cases — ditching them faster than ever. “The spotlight has been on, and boards of directors moved faster than they might have moved five or seven years ago,” Clarke Murphy, of Russell Reynolds Associates, told CNBC.

However, not every departure was the result of boards and investors at their wits’ end:

-Retirement, the third most common reason for CEO departures, accounts for 445 exits, according to the firm. Leaving for new opportunities accounted for 148 CEO departures.

-Companies in the government/non-profit sector led in CEO transitions with 438 exits, while retail was at the lower end of the spectrum with just 37 CEO exits.

Temporary Solution: The strategy of appointing an interim CEO has become a little more popular in 2024. This year, 13% of all replacements were named on an interim basis, compared with 7% of all incoming CEOs in 2023, the study found.

“It’s much less disruptive to replace an interim head if things do not appear to be working out, not only to the company and its employees, but also to analysts and shareholders,” said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailyupside.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: ceos; departures; record
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last
Expect the trend to worsen - retirements, incompetence, diligence, and of course, take the money and run.
1 posted on 12/24/2024 5:39:12 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

Take the money and run, mostly, I reckon.
They see how unbalanced the US is in its finances. They don’t want to do the hard work of keeping companies afloat during trying times.


2 posted on 12/24/2024 5:47:58 AM PST by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

> Take the money and run, mostly, I reckon. <

Yep. These guys are paid millions, even when they mismanage their companies. Then they usually leave with golden parachutes worth millions more.

It is fair to criticize workers when they get greedy. But let’s not forget that the top executives are just as bad.


3 posted on 12/24/2024 5:52:24 AM PST by Leaning Right (It’s morning in America. Again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits
Companies in the government/non-profit sector led in CEO transitions with 438 exits,

Those aren’t real businesses.

4 posted on 12/24/2024 5:54:51 AM PST by HIDEK6 (God bless Donald Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

I made a vow never to work again at age 62. As long as there’s plenty of others working out there the retirees will continue to thrive. Us sedentaries need people to work and pay taxes to keep the government running. I saw an old, obese flight attendant walking through the airport. Good she’s doing something-I’m not. Young attractive used to compete for those jobs. Overweights would get grounded. Not happening.

Cut every program to scare the lazy. I’d lease land in some $hit-hole countries and build prisons-cheap labor under US ‘control’.


5 posted on 12/24/2024 5:55:44 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30
IMHO part of it is from the govt changing hands. Think of all of the private industries that depend on govt contracts.

If the board had believed in a CEO who said he knew how to get contracts when a Dim is in the WH, that same board might not feel as certain with him getting contracts with Trump in the WH and expecting different things from government contractors.

6 posted on 12/24/2024 5:57:22 AM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: DIRTYSECRET

There’s more. Rent Devil’s island and reopen it. Won’t be cost effective but Trump should do it for the optics.


7 posted on 12/24/2024 5:57:43 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Tell It Right

That’s a good point for the connected companies, but are all companies that well connected?


8 posted on 12/24/2024 5:58:18 AM PST by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

The Biden gravy train has left the station. Government spending will go elsewhere. The COVID and Green New Deal money will be redirected.

https://archive.is/2024.12.23-200524/https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/23/biden-spending-unfinished-business-00195256

Joe Biden spent the first half of his presidency enacting plans to steer at least $1.6 trillion to transform the economy and spur a clean-energy revolution — only to watch those programs become afterthoughts in the 2024 election.
Now the core of his domestic legacy stands unfinished, with hundreds of billions of dollars left to deploy, and imperiled as Donald Trump prepares to take office.

A wide-ranging examination of the Biden administration’s spending and tax policies reveals signs that his efforts could leave a lasting mark, but also ways in which his agenda has yet to take hold — after unleashing money for batteries, solar cells, computer chips and clean water; luring foreign-owned factories to U.S. soil; and turning some red-state Republicans into supporters of green energy projects.


9 posted on 12/24/2024 5:58:25 AM PST by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right; Jonty30; T.B. Yoits; Tell It Right
...included Nike and John Donahoe, Intel and Pat Gelsinger, and Boeing and Dave Calhoun.

Aren't these the idiots who bought into the stupid idea called DEI?

10 posted on 12/24/2024 6:02:39 AM PST by GOPJ (https://files.catbox.moe/rwi6a2.jpeg //files.catbox.moe/14hch9.jpg <img src="[image url]">)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

I wouldn’t be surprised if about half of the 2,000 from the article are govt contractor companies. Think about the tons of companies for defense for planes. And tons for processing money like EBT payments. And tons for military supplies like uniforms. And tons getting EV charging contracts. And tons supplying arms for the IRS. And tons supplying police with equipment approved by the federal govt. And software for university accounting departments that has to be approved to receive federal grants. And the contractors who work on federal highways or perhaps work on state highways that federal money helps and therefore has to approve. And the contractors who provide staff and/or supplies for federal prisons. And the contractors who do work for the IRS. Etcetera. Etcetera. Etcetera. Etcetera.


11 posted on 12/24/2024 6:06:48 AM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits
The Wuhan flu has changed our society. People learned to live without and found out they didn't need a lot of things.

Stick 2m in the bank, downsize and pay off your home. That's 4k a month you can take from your retirement account for 40+ years. Throw in a pension and S.s. you've got a 80-90k income be8ng retired. Why stay in the rat race??? Go do something you've always wanted. Buy a boat, go bother your kids and grand kids, spend a month in a cabin on top of a mountain in Tennessee!

12 posted on 12/24/2024 6:06:58 AM PST by Ikeon ( Why don't they, do what they say? Say what they mean? One thing leads to another. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30
They don’t want to do the hard work of keeping companies afloat during trying times.

True. In addition, more and more CEO candidates don't want to come in and have to clean up the mess their predecessor left for them.

13 posted on 12/24/2024 6:07:57 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

I’ll take the job for half of what they were getting. And I’d only need to work it for one month.


14 posted on 12/24/2024 6:17:37 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ikeon

That is spot on.


15 posted on 12/24/2024 6:19:51 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

My hunch: Lots of fashionably woke CEOs run their company into the ground (or nearly so) and are forced to “move on”.


16 posted on 12/24/2024 6:21:08 AM PST by rbg81
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ikeon
I suspect a lot of potential CEO candidates instead choose to manage their own finances, functioning as a corporation of one, and do better than they would working for a corporate board.

As we see at many levels, if you were capable of doing a job, why not do it for yourself?

17 posted on 12/24/2024 6:23:39 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

DEI CEOs ?


18 posted on 12/24/2024 6:27:14 AM PST by butlerweave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

In the past, a CEO has driven his company to make record profits and the company stock goes up Up UP!
The CEO then finds a buyer for his profitable company and sells his own company to the competition, sells his own shares, retires rich!
Sadly when he dumps his own shares on the market the stock falls after the sale, but he is in good shape.


19 posted on 12/24/2024 6:27:39 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rbg81
My hunch: Lots of fashionably woke CEOs run their company into the ground (or nearly so) and are forced to “move on”.

Certainly, but I think these boards are hiring incompetent CEOs because they're not getting other takers for the position.

I worked for one multi-billion dollar international company that spent more than a year in their CEO search only to settle for someone from two or three tiers below their previous CEO. It was a combination of industry and specific company that kept talent away. It didn't go well and the company eventually closed its doors.

I've also witnessed where an interim CEO was in place for about 18 months and retired out when the board finally made them an offer for the regular position.

Their current CEO of Starbucks coffee is commuting by corporate jet from Newport Beach California to Seattle. Such a remote trend is increasing as talented individuals have more options.

20 posted on 12/24/2024 6:32:53 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson