Calling The Top: Record Numbers Of CEOs Quit In January

CEO departures like that of Bob Iger from Disney have stunned the investing world recently. Iger said earlier this week that he was going to step down from his job after a decade and a half of success.

He was responsible for bringing Disney into the streaming era, creating Disney +, launching the company’s biggest theme park in Shangai and bringing ESPN to streaming, according to Axios.

Could Iger – and other CEOs like him – be sounding the alarm? While Iger claimed on Disney’s conference call that the “plans had been in the works for some time,” it is difficult not to notice the timing with which he – and other CEOs like him – have decided to call it quits. 

In fact, their timing has been extraordinarily prescient. Every CEO that has announced their departure before the coronavirus pandemic that has taken a hold of the global markets may have just arguably exited at the best possible time. Since the beginning of January, $5 trillion has now been wiped off of markets worldwide. 

And there’s plenty of reason to believe that the pain is going to continue.

219 CEOs have left their jobs in January, which is a 37% increase from December and 27% increase from the previous high, which was in October. 

Even in December, the breakneck pace with which CEOs were leaving was highlighted by Axios, who noted that names like Patrick Byrne of Overstock, Kevin Plank of Under Armor and Adam Neumann of WeWork had all stepped down from their positions as Chief Executive Officer.

Additionally, the #MeToo movement claimed names like Steve Easterbrook of McDonald’s. 

Any chance Elon Musk could be next?