CEO exits have become quite frequent over the years. With dipping business performance, ethical lapses, closer investor scrutiny, government and regulatory scrutiny, public scrutiny and need to ensure that an organization appears responsible – CEOs who fall on any parameter are shown the door.
In the US, 1160 CEOs have quit till date (Sept 2019). The prime reasons for most of these CEO exits have been retirement, however, there are other reasons as well. Tech sector in the US saw about 159 CEO exits this year. (Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, data till Sept 2019). In India, from among the NSE Listed companies, as many as 58 MDs and/or CEOs have quit in the first seven months of 2019. In 2018, as many as 108 CEOs or MDs had left their offices. (Source: Prime Database’s nseinfobase.com). These are just indicative figures. For India, the number is bound to get higher when we look at start-ups, and privately-owned companies.
Here are some visible and talked about CEO exits.
Steve Easterbrook, Former CEO, McDonald’s
McDonald’s, Chief executive Steve Easterbrook was pushed out by the McDonalds board over relationship with a colleague. Steve Easterbrook left the top job after admitting he broke company rules by dating a colleague. This was against the company policy that forbids managers of engaging in a romantic relationship with their direct or indirect subordinates.
Scott Painter, Former CEO, Fair.com
Scott Painter, recently ( Oct 2019) stepped down as CEO of Fair Inc., a company he founded in 2016. His exit is linked to the business performance of the Soft Bank funded company. A week prior to his exit Fair.com had announced cost cutting measures leading to layoff of about 40 % of the company’s workforce, that also included the company’s CFO Tyler Paitner, brother of Scott Painter. The company has raised more than $2 billion in equity and debt.
Nadiem Makarim, Former CEO, Gojek
Nadiem Makarim, Founder and CEO of Gojek, has stepped down from his role at the ride-hailing startup to join Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s cabinet. Gojek, $ 10 billion firm started as a ride hailing service and has moved on to online payments, food delivery, and services. The company has investments from Softbank.
Hiroto Saikawa, Former President and CEO of Nissan.
Hiroto Saikawa, Former CEO of NISSAN, left days after he admitted to being improperly overpaid and violating internal procedures. In an internal investigation – he admitted to having received payments that flouted company policies, but were not illegal.
Kevin Burns, Former CEO, Jull
Kevin Burns, Former CEO of vaping firm Juul, stepped down amid growing concerns around vaping related health risks and criticism of its marketing initiatives. Juul Labs, Inc. is an American electronic cigarette company which spun off from Pax Labs in 2017.
Devin Wenig, President and CEO, eBay
eBay Inc.’s Former President and CEO, Devin Wenig, had to exit after pressure from investors and dipping business performance. In a letter, earlier this year, investor Elliott Management had suggested structural changes to get the company back on track – “Today eBay suffers from an inefficient organizational structure, wasteful spend and a misallocation of resources,” . Subsequently, eBay went through layoffs and restructuring. On his exit, David said – he’s been out of sync with the company’s new board.
Adam Neumann, Co-Founder & Former CEO, WeWork
Adam Neumann, the Co-founder of We Co and the former CEO of WeWork, had to quit after a failed IPO, and the close scrutiny that the company was subjected to based on the IPO filings and disclosures. The company has seen its valuation dip form $ 47 billion to just about $ 8 billion, as it is today. The company has been taken over by its prime backer SoftBank, in an effort to bailout the company.
Rupert Hogg, Former CEO, Cathay Pacific
Rupert Hogg has been a casualty of the Hong Kong protests, as businesses faced pressure to support Beijing. The airline came under Chinese regulatory scrutiny and was forced to act upon when some of its staff joined the anti government protests. Hogg, a British citizen, appointed as CEO in May 2017, said he had to take responsibility as leader of the company, and probably he could have managed the crisis differently.
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