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Jun 3 2008 4:06PM EDT

Can Icahn Get Any CEO Fired for a Stalled Stock Price?

From Kevin Maney: Carl Icahn is asking an interesting question of the American business landscape: Is stock price the only measurement of a CEO that matters? Or, as Icahn might put it, doesn't any CEO who disappoints shareholders deserve to get fired?

Icahn, the corporate raider-turned-shareholder activist (same tactics, different label) is threatening to throw out Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, The Wall Street Journal reports. Icahn says it's because Yang was disengenuous in his negotiations with Microsoft, but what it really comes down to is that Yang failed to a do a deal that would've given Yahoo stockholders a payoff.

Icahn did something similar to Motorola CEO Ed Zander. Stock swooned. Icahn owned a chunk. Icahn beat on Zander until Zander resigned. It is, these days, Icahn's modus operandi. Any CEO running a company with a stalled stock could fall victim.

Which is interesting on this particular day, when Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy has been named CEO of the Year. I wrote about it in a post this morning. Mulcahy's peers clearly think she is a fantastic CEO. Yet the stock price? In January 2005 it was $16. A year ago, almost $20. Now, $14.50. Want to fire her, Carl?

 

 


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