CEO departures at U.S. companies hit a record this year | Global News Avenue

CEOs who have retired, been ousted or poached have exited this year.

This year through November, U.S. public companies have announced 327 CEO changes, according to employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

That’s more than any other year since at least 2010, when the company first started tracking revenue. It also increased by 8.6% compared with last year.

Departures include CEOs of U.S. companies that have long dominated their industries, such as boeing company, Nike and Starbucks. The pace of change suggests that these companies’ customers, investors, hedge funds or boards are increasingly impatient with falling sales or strategic missteps in an otherwise strong economy while consumers prove their mettle willing to spend money.

CEO changes have slowed during the pandemic, when companies suddenly faced lockdowns, remote worksupply chain difficulties and shortageif not directly Survive. They later faced higher borrowing costs, inflation, labor shortagetransfer consumers Preference and other challenges.

Over the past 14 years, 2021 has the lowest number of replacements at 197.

“The cost of capital and the speed of transformation are creating faster turnover rates,” said Clarke Murphy, managing director and former CEO of leadership consultancy Russell Reynolds Associates.

In an otherwise strong market, it’s easier for underperformers to stand out, Murphy said.

“With two consecutive years of S&P (500) returns of over 20%, any company that is significantly underperforming is going to be in the spotlight, and boards may be moving faster than they were five or seven years ago.” Fei said.

Consumer-focused companies are more susceptible to changing tastes trendtypically have higher turnover than industries like oil and gas or utilities, which tend to have in-house and longer-tenured CEOs.

The recent surge in turnover comes despite a decline in the number of listed companies.

Here are some of the major U.S. CEO changes so far this year:

semiconductor company Ousting CEO Pat Gelsinger Earlier this month, nearly four years after he was tapped to turn around the chipmaker and better compete with rivals.

IntelArtificial intelligence surge boosts chipmakers’ share prices and market shares plummet NVIDIA Intel, on the other hand, is trying to break into the business.

A successor has not yet been named.

The aerospace giant announces former CEO Dave Calhoun leave It was part of a broad executive shakeup in March. This comes after nearly three months without guarantees The door jam was blown off In the air operating from a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 Alaska Airlinesafter years of problems in its defense and commercial aerospace businesses, the company is back in a safety crisis, frustrating leaders of some of its largest airline customers.

calhoun himself appointment In the last days of 2019 success Former CEO Dennis Muilenburg was ousted over his handling of the aftermath of two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Calhoun took over in August Kelly OrtbergA three-decade aerospace veteran and former Rockwell Collins CEO was promoted from Florida retirees by Boeing, stable company.

During the strike that ended last month, Ortberg announced that thousands layoffs As Boeing works to stabilize production, it also cuts costs in other areas to save cash.

As sales shrink in its largest market, Starbucks poached Chipotle Mexican BBQ Star CEO Brian Nicol arrive turn around Taking over from Laxman Narasimhan changed the fortunes of the coffee chain. The company’s shares soared nearly 25% after Nicol’s appointment was announced in August.

Within his first 100 days on the job, he announced plans to take the company “back to Starbucks” and refocus on what drew customers to the coffee chain in the first place. Early stages of the strategy include making coffee shops more welcomecutting lengthy menus and speeding up service.

Meanwhile, Chipotle names insiders and industry veterans Scott Boatright November rules the Mexican food chain.

The shoemaker replaces CEO John Donahoe September Elliott Hill is a company veteran who worked as an intern at Nike in the 1980s.

Donahue has helped Nike grow sales since taking the helm, from $39.1 billion in fiscal 2019 to $51.4 billion in fiscal 2024, but growth eventually stalled after he left wholesale partners such as Foot Locker. macy’s department storeand neglected innovation.

In 2022, Peloton brings in former Spotify and Netflix executives Barry McCarthy Successor to founder John Foley, but he Step down In May, the company announced another restructuring.

In October, Peloton announced Peter Sternpredecessor Ford administrative staff and apple Co-founder of Fitness+, serving as third CEO. Stern has a background in growing subscription services, and Wall Street hopes he can make Peloton profitable by cutting costs and focusing on high-margin subscription revenue.

Kohl’s CEO Tom Kingsbury Stepping down The off-trade department store said late last month that he would leave on January 15 and that his replacement would be Ashley Buchanan from craft mecca Michaels.

Kohl’s’ comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, have declined in each of the last 11 quarters, and its stock price has plummeted.

WW International is in a tough spot, with its stock price down more than 80% this year. During Sistani’s tenure, it tired of repositioning itself to build a platform that connects customers to popular ones. lose weight drug.

—CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge and Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.