Stock Tickers: DELL, CSCO, IACI, FO, VIA, CBS, CMCSA, CMCSK, NWS
This story is re-run from yesterday morning for those who missed it on RSS or already deleted.
This week I composed a list of highly entrenched corporate leaders,and it is the first of a multi-part series. Because of by-laws orbecause of multiple voting classes or just because certain CEO’s arethat valuable, there are certain corporate insiders entrenched insidecompanies for literally as long as they want to be. Some don’t evenhave a majority of the shares, but they are the face of a company andthe company might look entirely different without them.
When investors make decisions they are usually betting on a stronghorse, but there are many companies where an investment is much more onthe jockey than it is on the horse. This is no call for an ouster byany means, and most of these companies could suffer serious setbacks ifthe leader left the company. There is no higher or lower ranking by theorder here at all, and the full articles can be accessed by clicking onthe names.
Norman Wesley, Chairman & CEO of Fortune Brands (FO)
Fortune Brands has seen a range-bound stock over the last year, but their corporate figurehead is a huge plus for the company.
Michael Dell, Chairman of Dell Inc. (DELL)
No shareholder would want to see him leave. Period.
John Chambers, Chairman & CEO of Cisco Systems (CSCO)
Sowhat if he says "caysh-flow," he has proved critics wrong. Even afterthe tech bubble burst in 2000 the stock drop was never blamed on him.He has orchestrated more future technology acquisitions than "secretgovernment agencies." He’s there as long as he wants to be.
Barry Diller, Chairman & CEO of IAC/Interactive (IACI)
Manycomplained about the massive pay package last year, but investors havedone well and he acts 20 years younger than his age when it comes toenergy in being a dealmaker.
Rupert Murdoch, Chairman & CEO of News Corp. (NWS)
Could someone imagine what News Corp. would look like if Murdoch announced it was time to open up the company?
Brian Roberts, Chairman & CEO of Comcast (CMCSA)
Asit has been one of the best performing media stocks out there in 2006,it would be hard to imagine who would even challenge him.
Sumner Redstone, Chairman of Viacom (VIA) and CBS Corp. (CBS)
Hehas been pulling out the chainsaw over key employees not doing deals,even though the resources may not be available. Some have said he ishard to work for, but trying to get an immediate replacement and tryingto absorb all the shares he owns in trust would probably just let theother media companies swarm in as vultures.
There is also a brief background post ahead of this as well, because the articles would be too long to include a pre-set guideline on each one.
Jon C. Ogg
January 20, 2007
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