Citigroup’s India-born chief Vikram Pandit has found a place among the 20 worst-ever CEOs in American history, but the top honours have gone to bankrupt Lehman Brothers’ Dick Fuld.
Business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio has compiled the lists of America’s 20 worst and 20 best-ever CEOs. The lists came after consulting a panel of business school professors.
For its list of 20 worst-ever list, the magazine identifies the business “leaders who helped drive their companies into the ground”. The list has been topped by Dick Fuld, under whose stewardship Lehman Brothers became the world’s biggest-ever bankruptcy candidate and marked the epitome of the current global economic crisis.
Pandit has been ranked last at 20th position in the list, which also includes troubled insurer AIG’s Martin Sullivan and failed investment bank Merrill Lynch’s Stan O’Neal as also computer giant HP’s former chief Carly Fiorina, Enron’s former chief Ken Lay and bankrupt telecom firm WorldCom’s Bernie Ebbers.
About Pandit, the magazine said that he “did not create the mess Citi is in, but he is the financial services equivalent of the Titanic’s Edward Smith — a commander ill- equipped to save his ship.”
“When Pandit took over, Citi was already on track to report write-downs and increased credit costs of $ 20 billion. Today, the banking supermarket is propped up by $45 billion in bailouts and is, in effect, owned by the US government,” Conde Nast Portfolio noted.
It further noted that Pandit’s current salary was one dollar, but his “pay package was valued at $38.2 million for 2008, a year when taxpayers kept the firm in business.”
Conde Nast Portfolio determined the rank after consulting a panel of professors from business schools like MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Tuck School of Business, Wharton School, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Yale School of Management and Kellogg School of Management.
The panelists were asked to consider each CEO’s record of creating or destroying value, innovation and management skills or lack thereof.
About top ranked Fuld, the magazine said that “it’s one thing to oversee the collapse of one of the Wall Street’s most esteemed firms. But when your hubris triggers a national financial panic as well, you’re a shoo-in for our top prize.” “Fuld’s reckless risk-taking may have been typical of Wall Street, but his refusal to acknowledge that his firm was in trouble — and take the steps necessary to save it — was beyond the pale.
“Since filing the largest bankruptcy in US history ($613 billion in debts outstanding), Fuld has been belligerent and unrepentant. Even (alleged Ponzi scamster) Bernie Madoff said he was sorry,” it added.
Among the top five, Fuld is followed by Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide Financial, another victim in the current financial crisis, which was acquired by Bank of America, Enron’s Ken Lay, Bear Stearns’ Jimmy Cayne, who was reportedly playing bridge when two of his company’s hedge funds collapsed in July 2007 and WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers.
<B>THE BEST CEOs</B><BR>
Software czar Bill Gates, legendary investor Warren Buffett and Apple’s Steve Jobs, all known for their business acumen, have been named among the 20 best American CEOs of all time.
The list of ‘20 Best CEOs’ is topped by auto maker Ford Motor’s Henry Ford, while financial services major J P Morgan’s J P Morgan has cornered the second place.
Jobs, Gates and Buffett are placed at 7th, 10th and 16th positions, respectively.
“... We put together a panel of business-school professors to help us come up with a list of the 20 best American CEOs of all time. Ford came out on top,” the publication said.
The co-founder of Microsoft, Gates, is “said to be a cranky and impatient manager — an approach that helped Microsoft earn $ 60 billion last year”, the magazine noted.
