New York Times (June 26)
“The ouster of the chairman, Osamu Nagayama, 74, represents a major win in a battle between Toshiba and foreign investors who have pushed the conservative company to clean up its governance. It is also a breakthrough in a broader effort to increase investor oversight of Japanese corporations, following a series of government-led changes meant to make companies more transparent and accountable.”
Tags: Battle, Breakthrough, Chairman, Clean-up, Conservative, Foreign investors, Governance, Government, Japanese corporations, Nagayama, Ouster, Oversight, Toshiba, Transparent, Win
Reuters (October 25)
“Lee Kun-hee leaves behind an impressive, albeit deeply flawed, empire. The Samsung chairman, who transformed his father’s noodle-trading business into a $355 billion smartphone and chipmaking colossus, has died at 78. The second-generation leader’s mark on Korea Inc will endure, but so do scandals that threaten the family’s grip on power.”
Tags: Chairman, Chipmaking, Colossus, Died, Empire, Flawed, Impressive, Korea Inc, Lee, Noodle, Samsung, Smartphone, Transformed
Wall Street Journal (December 16)
“Not everybody at Nissan was happy with their rock-star chairman, Carlos Ghosn. His high-living ways gave the company ammunition to take him down.”
Tags: Ammunition, Chairman, Ghosn. High-living, Happy, Nissan, Rock-star
Financial Times (May 11)
“The global trend has turned against title-hogging corporate leaders.” In 2002, the majority of incoming CEOs in Europe and the U.S. also held the Chairmanship. Last year, only 10% did. “Sometimes a species reaches the end of its natural existence…. The last survivors of the doomed herd become objects of curiosity and pity. This is happening to chief executives who are also chairmen—but with none of the pity.”
Washington Post (January 4, 2014)
On January 31, Ben Bernanke’s term as chairman of the Federal Reserve will come to an end as Janet Yellen’s begins. “Americans have been uneasy about central banks since the days of Thomas Jefferson and Jackson. But looking at Bernanke’s record, even the skeptics should grant that the country was lucky to have him when the crisis hit.” Bernanke “may go down as the most radical innovator in the Fed’s history — and one of the most successful.”
Tags: Andrew Jackson, Ben Bernanke, Central banks, Chairman, Crisis, Fed, Innovator, Janet Yellen, Radical, Skeptics, Success, Thomas Jefferson, U.S.
Washington Post (September 16)
Acknowledging he was tainted, Lawrence Summers withdrew from consideration for appointment as Federal Reserve chairman. Global markets surged as the dovish Janet Yellen now looks better positioned to win the influential post. “Shed no tears” for Larry. “Though brilliant, the Harvard economist has nonetheless ticked off too many people in his long and brash career, not only on policy grounds but also because of his famously caustic personality. Note to future careerists: Niceness counts.”
Tags: Career, Chairman, Economist, Federal Reserve, Global markets, Harvard, Janet Yellen, Lawrence Summers, Niceness, Personality, Policy
New York Times (July 30)
President Obama will need to appoint a replacement later this year to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke when his term expires in January 2014. The incoming Chairman will be challenged to delicately wind down the Fed’s massive quantitative easing measures. Camps of support are already arising around the two front runners Lawrence Summers and Janet Yellen. The New York Times comes down firmly in the former’s support, writing “no one else can match Janet Yellen’s combination of academic credentials and policy-making experience. And no one ever confirmed to the job has come to it with as deep a grounding in both the theory and practice of monetary and regulatory policy as Ms. Yellen would bring.” Should she be confirmed, she would also become the first woman to head the Fed.President Obama will need to appoint a replacement later this year to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke when his term expires in January 2014. The incoming Chairman will be challenged to delicately wind down the Fed’s massive quantitative easing measures. Camps of support are already arising around the two front runners Lawrence Summers and Janet Yellen. The New York Times comes down firmly in the former’s support, writing “no one else can match Janet Yellen’s combination of academic credentials and policy-making experience. And no one ever confirmed to the job has come to it with as deep a grounding in both the theory and practice of monetary and regulatory policy as Ms. Yellen would bring.” Should she be confirmed, she would also become the first woman to head the Fed.
Tags: Appointment, Ben Bernanke, Chairman, Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, Lawrence Summers, Obama, Quantitative easing, Replacement, U.S.
The Times—London (June 4)
“BP, not to mention its market capitalisation, is disappearing in the Gulf of Mexico” as its offshore oil well uncontrollably gushes oil. Yet, BP’s chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg “has gone missing.” Most people don’t even recognize his name. A low profile is not appropriate during a saga which has claimed 11 lives and become America’s largest disaster. “BP is one of Britain’s most important companies. Its future is in danger.” BP needs “a heavyweight public diplomat rather than the absentee who is presiding over a disaster in silence.”
