LEADERS CEOs in the eyes of the media
CEO STOCKWATCH Watching the people who run the commercial world provided by CARMA International
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Fresh turbulence and uncertainty characterised the period covered by CARMA International’s latest survey of media coverage of the world’s leading CEOs – February 16 to July 9. In the Spring, volcanic ash from Iceland created havoc for airlines and passengers, Greece’s debt crisis threatened to drag the Eurozone into the abyss and the UK’s general election in May led to the first hung parliament since the 1970s. The airlines took off again as the ash clouds dispersed, a bail-out package for Greece was agreed and the UK’s Conservative party formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. In the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron and his new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, ushered in a new age of austerity with swingeing cuts to public spending. After rallying until mid April, stock markets slid as fears of a ‘double dip’ recession unnerved investors. This was the background for media scrutiny of the activities of top CEOs. Besides a number of the usual suspects, eight names entered the
top twenty rankings from outside. One story dominated coverage over the period: the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that catapulted Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, to the top of the list. Caused by an explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20 that killed 11 workers, the oil spill came to be viewed as the world’s biggest environmental disaster. Blame focused on the hapless Hayward, who became America’s public enemy number one. The BP catastrophe diverted some attention from Akio Toyoda of Toyota, whose inept public relations handling of the recalls of faulty cars had helped tarnish the Japanese carmaker’s reputation. Media scrutiny of Toyoda continued in February and March as the CEO appeared at congressional hearings, but became sparser as media ire turned on Hayward. Nevertheless, Toyoda finished in seventh place, up from 11th last quarter. Apart from Hayward, the regulars appear in the remaining four top slots in CARMA’s global ranking. Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway took second place (down from
Top 20 CEOs worldwide | Top CEOs by volume in Q1
Top 20 CEOs in Europe | Volume of coverage in Q1
Hayward / BP Buffett / Berkshire Hathaway Blankfein / Goldman Sachs Jobs / Apple Murdoch / News Corporation Thiam / Prudential Toyoda / Toyota Ambani / Reliance Industry Schmidt / Google Dimon / JP Morgan Walsh / British Airways Ghosn / Nissan/Renault Kloppers / BHP Billiton Albanese / Rio Tinto Ackermann / Deutsche Bank Zetsche / Daimler Withacre / General Motors Pandit / Citigroup Zuckerberg / Facebook Benmoshe / AIG
Hayward / BP Blankfein / Goldman Sachs Buffett / Berkshire Hathaway Thiam / Prudential Jobs / Apple Walsh / British Airways Murdoch / News Corporation Ackermann / Deutsche Bank Ghosn / Nissan/Renault Zetsche / Daimler Schmidt / Google Gref / Sberbank Toyoda / Toyota Dimon / JP Morgan Zuckerberg / Facebook Marchionne / Fiat Miller / Gazprom Winterkorn / Volkswagen Geoghegan / HSBC Hester / RBS
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