Barron’s has run a Top 30 CEO list and 21 of the 30 are returnees to the list, but there are many on this list that either are 1) questionable or 2) don’t make much sense. Obviously there is a lot of opinion that goes into creating lists like these, and that is a two-way street.
The 9 new CEO’s they have added are Charlie Ergen of EchoStar (DISH), Larry Fink of Blackrock (BLK), Satoru Iwata of Nintendo (NTDOY), Franck Riboud of Danone (DAN), Peter Rose of Expeditors International (EXPD), Fred Smith of FedEx (FDX), James Schiro of Zurich Financial, Ratan Tata of Tata Sons India.
John Bowne of BP (BP) is off, as is Carlos Ghosn of Renault, as is Arthur Levinson of Genentech (DNA), as is Chip Mason of Legg Mason (LM), as is Anne Mulcahy of Xeros (XRX), as is retired Steve Reinemund of Pepsi, Shigenobu Nagamori of Nidec, as is Glenn Renwick of Progressive (PGR), and finally Rober Toll of Toll Brothers (TOL).
Most of these newbies make sense, but some of the exits from the list are odd. Anne Mulcahy of XRX they couldn’t praise enough for a turnaround before And they list Genentech (DNA) is off? Is Progressive (PGR) no longer "that progressive?
The obvious returns are Warren Buffett (BRK/A), Lew Frankfort (COH), George David (UTX), Kenneth Chenault (AXP), Jeff Immelt (GE), A.G. Lafley (PG), James Sinegal (COST), Michael O’Leary (RYAAY), Richard Fuld (LEH), and Laksmi Mittal (MT). These are the quite obvious names and anyone would love to get their insights for a day (or more), but there are some picks that could have been off.
There are several on here that could have been at risk, and some may be quite questionable in my opinion as of recent developments. Steve Jobs of Apple (AAPL) is somewhat at risk because it is not known of his true options involvement not just at Apple (AAPL), but at Pixar which is now part of Disney (DIS). It doesn’t matter that we think Jobs is perhaps one of the most valuable CEO’s to a company. Wells Fargo (WFC) Richard Kovacevich and Angelo Mazilo of Countrywide (CFC) could both be at risk over future loans, even though they are well regarded. John Mackey of Whole Foods (WFMI) could easily be off that list as the company stock has lost its mojo and could face severe pricing pressure (it ain’t called Whole-Paycheck for nothin’) from traditional grocers and big-box retailers. No offense to him at because because it isn’t meant as critical, but is Bob Simpson of XTO (XTO) really the best CEO in the entire energy patch?
It was also surprising that Fred Smith of FedEx was not on this list before. This guy’s a superstar CEO if there ever was one, and he was one of "most entrenched CEO’s" featured persons. EchoStar’s stock is up as well to actually what is almost 6 year highs, but it was surprising to see Ergen’s name on there. Where is Norm Wesley of Fortune Brands (FO), or Cisco’s John Chanbers (CSCO), or Brian Roberts of Comcast (CMCSA)?
Some of these international CEO’s have been left out of any critique because they just are not overly followed here in the US. Most of these do make sense, but there are some on here that you have to wonder about and there are others that are not on the list for this year nor last year that are really surprising. Well that’s enough on this subject so enjoy your weekend.
Jon C. Ogg
March 24, 2007
Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.
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