CEO firing hits 15 year low

The number of CEOs being ‘forced out’ is at a 15 year low, as more companies forego the ‘knee-jerk’ response and opt to plan successions instead.

According to research by PwC Consultancy Strategy, only 14% of CEOs who left their job last year were forced out, a record low in the survey’s 15 year history. As the financial crisis hit in 2008 41% of leaving CEOs were ‘pushed’, while the worst year for CEOs was 2002, when 47% of those departing were ‘pushed’.

“More and more companies are getting succession planning right. We see clear correlations between companies with planned turnovers, companies in the top quartile of performance when they do undergo a turnover, and good governance,” said the report. “Over the past 15 years, companies in the highest quartile of performance had planned turnovers 79% of the time, compared with 55% among companies in the lowest quartile.”