The American economy appears to have turned the corner but is still far from out of the woods. With unemployment still slowly dropping and job growth incrementally improving, there appears to be growing optimism about job prospects and economic growth. This optimism experienced a hiccup recently when the U.S. Government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics December 2013 job growth figures were well below analysts’ expectations. Analysts expected a large number for December 2013 (around 200,000) and were quite disappointed after BLS announced,
The unemployment rate declined from 7.0 percent to 6.7 percent in December, while total nonfarm payroll employment edged up (+74,000)…
Top executives in both small and large firms also find themselves in a similar situation. Opportunities are growing for top executives yet, underperforming firms are now more likely to change deck chairs as the overall economy shows life. Liberum Research expects to see increased turnover in the executive ranks as we move through the early months of 2014.
Liberum has put together below a six year quarterly breakdown of executive turnover totals for CEOs, CFOs and C-level executives covering North America. Most of the below quarterly numbers showed continuing declines until the second quarter of 2011. At this point, the numbers began to reverse themselves. Turnover at the executive levels of corporate America began to grow but not consistently. Companies began again to consider new blood and often looked to change their corporate strategies as kernels of opportunity began to sprout ever so slightly. Anyone investing in the market must pay special attention to executive turnover both at the top and the middle executive ranks. Failure to do so, will result in lost opportunities or worse.
Below is a simple table outlining the quarterly turnover totals as registered through Liberum Research’s Management Change Database for 2008 through the fourth quarter of 2013 for CEO, CFO and overall C-level turnover.
Total CEO Turnover Comparisons
| Year | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| 1st Quarter | 745 | 491 | 388 | 346 | 680 | 583 |
| 2nd Quarter | 596 | 380 | 321 | 581 | 665 | 619 |
| 3rd Quarter | 533 | 409 | 298 | 713 | 636 | 627 |
| 4th Quarter | 461 | 430 | 328 | 697 | 673 | 636 |
| Annual Total | 2,335 | 1,710 | 1,335 | 2,337 | 2,654 | 2,465 |
Total CFO Turnover Comparisons
| Year | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| 1st Quarter | 593 | 332 | 296 | 280 | 640 | 495 |
| 2nd Quarter | 551 | 326 | 273 | 404 | 612 | 557 |
| 3rd Quarter | 438 | 279 | 256 | 629 | 598 | 582 |
| 4th Quarter | 364 | 313 | 258 | 476 | 569 | 562 |
| Annual Total | 1,946 | 1,250 | 1,083 | 1,789 | 2,419 | 2196 |
Total C-level Turnover Comparisons
| Year | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| 1st Quarter | 6735 | 4061 | 3453 | 2863 | 5442 | 3971 |
| 2nd Quarter | 7430 | 5051 | 3199 | 4041 | 5036 | 4102 |
| 3rd Quarter | 4865 | 3690 | 2522 | 5349 | 4235 | 4123 |
| 4th Quarter | 4277 | 3439 | 2381 | 4596 | 4197 | 4196 |
| Annual Total | 23,307 | 16,241 | 11,555 | 16,849 | 18,910 | 16,392 |
As you can see from the quarterly and annual executive turnover totals in the above chart, North American public companies are operating at a more consistent level with regard to turnover. The same is true when viewed from a brief monthly perspective. December 2013′s executive turnover totals remained reasonably high in the key categories. Liberum anticipates this trend will continue as we move through January and February.
The latest monthly comparison figures with regard to executive turnover for December 2013 with those of December 2012 and November 2013 and December 2013 are as follows:
- CEO turnover for December 2013 declined 9% from that of December 2012, CFO turnover declined 3%, while overall C-level turnover remained the same.
- The month to month change from November 2013 to December 2013 showed an increase of 12% for CEOs, an increase of 6% for CFOs and an increase of 15% with regard to C-level changes. Overall these totals remain positive signs for the economy.
In the below report, Liberum has focused on fifty two CEO changes of special significance for the month of December out of a total of 225. We have also put together the overall turnover figures for the month of December 2013. The below information is just illustrative of how investors could view executive turnover and its possible relationship with a company’s performance. The same could be done for COOs, Presidents, Chairmans etc. just through the Liberum database.
DATE COMPANY TICKER EXCHANGE MARKET CAP $ MILLIONS
12-02 Rathbone Brothers RAT LSS 7
12-03 Polycom, Inc. PLCM NASDAQ 1810
12-04 Wolfden Resources WLF CANADA 10
12-05 Agri-Dynamics Inc AGDY OTN
12-05 Rainbow Coral Cor RBCC OBB 3
12-05 Zodiac Exploratio ZEX CVE
12-06 Domino’s Pizza, Inc. DPZ NYSE 3871
12-06 Rio Bravo Oil, In RIOB OBB 29
12-06 Selectica, Inc. SLTC NASDAQ 23
12-09 First Physicians FPCG OTN 50
12-09 Hologic, Inc. HOLX NASDAQ 5992
12-10 Blox Inc BLXX NYSE 864
12-10 Clean Diesel Tech CDTI NASDAQ 13
12-10 General Motors Corporation GM NYSE 55870
12-10 Jacksonville Banc JAXB NASDAQ 75
12-10 Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU NASDAQ 10127
12-10 QLogic Corporation QLGC NASDAQ 998
12-11 Absolute Software ABT TORONTO 296
12-11 Crumbs Bake Shop, CRMB NASDAQ 10
12-11 EOG Resources, Inc. EOG NYSE 43089
12-11 Female Health Com FHCO NASDAQ 244
12-11 Spdr S&P 500 SPY ETF
12-12 Restoration Hardw RH USC 2510
12-13 FTI Consulting, Inc. FCN NYSE 1683
12-13 Great East Energy GASE OBB 25
12-13 QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM NASDAQ 123200
12-13 Rsa Insurance Gro RSNAY OTN 5410
12-16 KBR, Inc. KBR NYSE 4518
12-16 Pricer -B- PRICB STOCKHOLM
12-16 Violin Memory, In VMEM NYSE 128
12-17 Centor Inc CNTO OBB 74
12-17 Halozyme Therapeu HALO NASDAQ 1663
12-18 Encision Inc ECIA OTN 7
12-18 Globalscape Inc GSB NYSE 44
12-18 Integrated Device IDTI NASDAQ 1520
12-18 QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM NASDAQ 123100
12-18 Standex Int’l Corp. SXI NYSE 760
12-19 Arricano Re Est ARO LONDON
12-19 Bhp Billiton Limi BHP NYSE 169500
12-19 Co-Signer, Inc COSR OBB 4
12-20 Nielsen Holdings NLSN NYSE 17237
12-20 Renuen Corporatio RENU OTN 324
12-23 Acer Inc Gdrregs ACEIF OTN
12-23 CyberOptics Corporation CYBE NASDAQ 40
12-23 EarthLink, Inc. ELNK NASDAQ 516
12-23 First West Virgin FWV NYSE 28
12-23 Invivo Therapeuti NVIV OTN 150
12-23 Metabolix, Inc. MBLX NASDAQ 46
12-23 Orgenesis Inc ORGS OTN 31
12-23 SMTC Corporation (USA) SMTX NASDAQ 37
12-27 Crocs, Inc. CROX NASDAQ 1427
12-31 Deutsche Tele Ag DTEGY OTN 75116
DECEMBER 2013 MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
C-LEVEL MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL – 1448
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
GRAND TOTAL – 1448
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Energy - 161
> Drugs/Biotech – 129
> Metals/Mining – 103
DECEMBER 2013 CEO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL – 225
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
GRAND TOTAL – 225
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Energy – 29
> Manufacturing – 17
> Drugs/Biotech – 16
DECEMBER 2013 CFO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL – 181
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
GRAND TOTAL – 181
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Energy – 34
> Drugs/Biotech – 17
> Banking – 12
> Drugs/Biotech – 17
> Banking – 12
DECEMBER 2013 BOARD OF DIRECTOR CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL – 539
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
GRAND TOTAL – 539
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Energy – 69
> Drugs/Biotech – 50
> Business Services – 31
> Manufacturing – 31
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