9 Big Whales: What went wrong with them?

Rick Wagoner-GM, Ed Mueller-Qwest, Ron Snyder-Crocs, Jerry Yang-Yahoo, Mel Karmazin-Sirius Satellite, Jonathan Schwartz-Sun Microsystems, Les Moonves-CBS, Philippe Dauman-Viacom, Richard Fuld- Lehman Brothers

(From Left to Right in that order)

A year back these 9 CEOs were the messiahs of their companies, a synonym for the brand name and someone to look up to by the “fresh stock” of the organization.

Ron Snyder all of a sudden has been stamped as someone who does not understand brands and can’t take Crocs into the future. On his watch the stock hit $4.96 low. Jerry Yang got the blame for missing out on the Microsoft deal and causing Yahoo $13 a share loss. Jonathan Schwartz has seen the business of Sun Microsystems stall just to servers. Mel Karmazin of Sirius Satellite has only seen the company get negative operating income and managed to crack no major deals. Les Moonves, the CEO of CBS bought CNET at a premium of 45% and the investors are saying that he bought a sloth. He is being called the “old man” for the business. As a result of CBS, Viacom’s shares are being hit too and are trading on a 52 week low. CEO Philippe Dauman is at the receiving end. The biggest giant of them all probably is Rick Wagoner, the CEO of GM. With the auto industry looking pale, things don’t look good for him. Qwest’s CEO Ed Mueller has a different kind of problem on his hands. The company is likely to be taken over and if that happens then he would most likely not be able to pay that mortgage. Last but not the least, who would have expected that Richard Fuld the CEO of Lehman Brothers would be looking over his shoulder? He is that man who Lehman Brothers was counting on for a turn around.
Combined, these 9 whales are worth more than $198274806 in terms of salary, cash bonus, perks and stock options. I wouldn’t even know how to read that damn number. I guess they can all get together and start their own company.

Jokes apart, so what went wrong? Timing and Numbers. Both are against them. They just happen to be the ones who will have to take the fall in the face of a constructive turn around for the company (At least that’s how the company would put it). For CEOs such as Jerry Yang, Yahoo would not be an easy place to be in with Google breathing down his neck and Microsoft doesn’t seem to be playing the same tune any more for the offer it earlier landed Yahoo.

The end of 2008 will tell how many of these actually manage to hang on or turn the tables. For the time being, the scene for Richard Fuld, Ed Mueller and Jerry Yang in particular, looks very dicey.