Depth report

　　

In 2015, a total of two billionaires resigned from their heads of large companies, one was a media tycoon and the other was a leader in the fashion industry. A CEO of the aviation industry was dismissed due to a scandal, and this scandal may even ruin the future of a Republican presidential candidate. In a scandal sweeping the world, the head of the world's largest automaker resigned. One of the few female CEOs in the United States was forced away by an active investor. At the same time, a large clothing retailer fired its boss and hired a woman as the head. The list of big-name American CEOs who left in 2015 will provide us with a window into the "big reshuffle" of some of the most high-profile corporate management in the world.

    In June last year, the billionaire Rupert Murdoch (Rupert Murdoch) decided to promote his two children to the top leadership positions of the media and entertainment giant 21st Century Fox. As expected, but its impact will not be the slightest discount. Murdoch, 84, has been the chairman and chief executive officer of 21st Century Fox, which controls the Fox television empire and a large cluster of film and television production companies. Murdoch’s second son, 42-year-old James will serve as the company’s chief executive officer, and 44-year-old Lachlan will serve as co-executive chairman. Rupert will continue to serve as executive chairman of the company. Murdoch previously served as chairman and chief executive officer of News Corporation, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, until the company was split into two independent listed companies in 2013. Although he has resigned as CEO and ensured that his two sons can take over Fox when he is out of health, Murdoch is expected to retain the final decision right in the future and provide strategic vision to the board of directors. According to Forbes estimates, the Murdoch family’s wealth is $12.6 billion.

    Another billionaire who resigned as CEO is 76-year-old Ralph Lauren. When he announced in September 2015 that he would resign as CEO of the company, the entire fashion industry was shocked. Ralph Lauren founded the company of the same name half a century ago. The company makes full use of the common people's vision of aristocratic country life and high-end Western lifestyle. In order to boost the company's declining stock price, he introduced to the board of directors an executive with low-end casual wear experience to run the company.

    41-year-old Stefan Larsson (Stefan Larsson) will serve as the company's CEO. Prior to this, Stephen had served as an executive at H&M and president of Old Navy, who sold affordable jeans and T-shirts. Although Gap, the parent company of Old Navy, suffers from slow growth, the Old Navy brand continues to expand. Like Murdoch, Lauren said that he plans to continue to serve as the company's executive chairman and chief creative officer, and use his remaining enthusiasm. Larson will report to Lauren, who currently has a personal net worth of $6.6 billion.

    In 2015, the CEO who stepped down due to the exposure of the scandal in the American corporate world is the most famous than Jeff Smisek of United Airlines. Smišek took the throne after the merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines in 2010. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Continental Airlines. However, after the merger was completed, United Airlines' performance has been unsatisfactory, with serious flight delays and a crash in the booking system. However, the immediate cause of Smíšek’s departure was a federal investigation into whether he had conducted a secret transaction with the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Samson. , David Symson was appointed by his good friend, New Jersey Governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie (Chris Christie). Suffering from the "Bridgegate" scandal, Samson resigned. In this scandal, Christie’s senior aides and Port Authority officials rushed to close the lane leading to the George Washington Bridge in retaliation against a mayor who did not support Christie’s re-election as governor, causing serious traffic jams. In February 2015, federal prosecutors began investigating whether Symson persuaded Smíšek to resume a loss-making route between Newark and Columbia, South Carolina, so that Sym could go to one of his fake villas. This route is nicknamed "the chairman's private flight." Because a holiday villa in Samson is located nearby. Allegedly, Samson promised for Smicek that he would approve the refurbishment of Newark Airport, and United Airlines is the largest airline at this airport. One of the directors of United Airlines, Oscar Munoz (Oscar Munoz) will succeed Smišek as CEO, and Oscar Munoz has previously helmed the railway company CSX. Although the "Bridge Gate" has not had an impact on the US presidential elections so far, Christie's many years of friends and assistants caught in the whirlpool of corruption scandals may ruin his future for president.

    A larger company scandal broke out in September 2015, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused German Volkswagen (Volkswagen) of installing special software on its diesel cars to circumvent the United States. Vehicle exhaust emission regulations. After Volkswagen admitted to installing this "cheat" software, the scandal quickly spread to millions of cars outside the US market. A few days later, the 68-year-old head of the company, Martin Winterkorn, inevitably handed in his resignation to the German automaker. Although Volkswagen’s executive committee finally concluded that Wendern had no knowledge of "cheating", Volkswagen adopted a top-down management structure, so even if Wendern did not know, He should also be responsible for this. Volkswagen quickly appointed 62-year-old Porsche boss Matthias Müller (Matthias Müller) as its new CEO.

    In large American companies, there are not many female heads, but in 2015 they lost one. In October, 59-year-old Ellen Kullman (Ellen Kullman) was talking with active investor Nelson Peltz and his company, the chief executive of Trian Fund Management. Lost in a fierce confrontation that lasted for several months. As a chemical company with a history of 213 years and invented famous products such as Teflon and Kevlar, its financial performance has been lower than expected many times, and costs must be cut. Nelson Peltz and Trian Fund Management requested the company to reform. Ellen Kullman (Ellen Kullman) has served as CEO of DuPont since 2009. Under pressure from Peltz, 59-year-old Edward D. Breen temporarily took the post of CEO, and then became a regular employee in November. Brin previously served as head of Tyco International (Tyco) and joined DuPont's board of directors in February. In Forbes' 2015 Global Powerful Women's List, Cullman ranked 26th.

    Dick Costolo, 52, resigned as CEO of Twitter in June 2015. Before that, the executive team of this social networking site had undergone a major change in blood. He told the company's board of directors that he was tired of the pressure from Wall Street-the lack of user growth, coupled with Twitter's successive setbacks in increasing its popularity, made Wall Street's disappointment with the company beyond words. At first, the company's board of directors urged Costello to replace his management team and form a new team. However, the accusations from Wall Street have never stopped. Chris Sacca, Twitter's major shareholder and the company's number one propagandist, called for the removal of Costello's CEO. Costello succeeded the company's co-founder Evan Williams as CEO in a board coup in October 2010. Another Twitter co-founder and Square owner Jack Dorsey (Jack Dorsey) was ordered to serve as the company's interim CEO, and then he became regular in October. Jack Dorsey was 39 years old in 2015.

    Next on our list: Don Thompson, the 52-year-old head of McDonald’s (McDonald), announced his resignation in January 2015. Not long ago, the fast food chain giant announced that due to customers’ The demand for so-called fast-casual restaurants is increasing, and the company's sales and profits have experienced a sharp decline. It was Steve Easterbrook, the company's chief brand officer, who succeeded him. Thompson is one of the few African Americans in charge of large corporations. He has served at McDonald's for more than 20 years and has served as the company's CEO since 2012. At present, there are more than 36,000 McDonald's restaurants in the world.

    In July 2015, Mike Useby (Mike Useby) ended his short term at Barnes & Noble and became another victim of the increasingly fierce competition in the industry. Hasby only served as the company's CEO in January 2014. As the nation's largest physical bookstore, Barnes & Noble Bookstore has stabilized its footing in the volatile printed book market, but it is difficult to compete with Amazon in the field of e-books and e-readers. Ronald Boire (Ronald Boire) will become the new head of Barnes & Noble Bookstore. Prior to this, Boyle served as CEO of Sears Department Store (Sears) Canada.

    Finally, due to the Christmas 2014 sales performance suffered by Waterloo, coupled with the fourth fiscal quarter profit fell by 59%, Bryan Stockton (Bryan Stockton) in charge of Barbie producer Mattel (Mattel) for three years Suddenly resigned afterwards. After Stockton left, the company's long-term director Christopher Sinclair (Christopher Sinclair) served as interim CEO, and he became a regular employee in April 2015.

    Strangely, according to the “Wall Street Journal” report, Mattel initially announced that Stockton had resigned himself, but the company later disclosed in the documents submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that he was dismissed without giving reasons. .

    But in any case, Stockton got a high-tech contract three months after leaving the company, returned to the company as a consultant, and will receive a monthly salary of $125,000 in the following year. His annual salary will be 1.5 million U.S. dollars, a 30% increase from his 2014 annual salary of 1.15 million U.S. dollars. If you can get all the money, that's not bad.