Bank of New York Mellon's Robert Kelly was one of three top CEOs who announced they were leaving their jobs this week. (Mike Segar / Reuters)
Call it turnover Thursday. In the past 48 hours, chief executives of three of the U.S.’s largest companies – Bank of New York Mellon, Costco and Bank of New York Mellon – have either called it quits or been shown the door. Perhaps they wanted to make labor day truly a long weekend.
Of the three CEOs to leave their posts, Robert Kelly appears to be the most contentious departure. Kelly just a year ago was seen as a financial crisis success story, having steered Bank of New York through downturn without nearly anything like the problems seen at some other financial giants. Yesterday, though, the board of the bank reportedly asked Kelly to resign. The reason cited was the he just couldn’t play nice with others.
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The other two CEOs seem to be leaving of their own free will. Costco’s Jim Sinegal co-founded the company, is one of America’s most admired CEOs – Costco didn’t lay off any workers during the recent recession – and is 76. He said he plans to retire at the end of this year. Wendy’s CEO Roland Smith also appears to have been well-liked and successful at the helm of the fast food company, which also owns Taco Bell. But reportedly Smith doesn’t want to relocate his family to company’s headquarters outside Columbus, Ohio. Who would?
These three departures might mean be totally unrelated, but three’s a trend, at least in journalism, so I decided to look into it.
According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, which is the keeper of CEO turnover data, CEO turnover does appear to be on the rise, somewhat. Overall, the number of CEOs either calling it quits or being fired so far this year is similar to a year ago, but the past few months have shown somewhat of an uptick. At 113 departures, June was the busiest month for packing up executive suites in more than a year. Many more companies took their top dogs out for permanent walks in July 2011 than a year ago as well, 104 vs. 88.
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So what does an uptick in CEO turnover mean for the economy? The data is not conclusive. Generally, CEO turnover typically happens when the economy is turning. Unsurprisingly, 2008 was a big year for executive departures. Recessions are tough times for anyone to keep their job. But companies also tend to retool their executive branches when things are looking up. So more CEO fires and hires could be a good sign as well. Company boards are willing to take risks and invest in a new hire. So more uncertainty. As you know, CEOs love that.
Stephen Gandel is a senior writer at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @stephengandel. You can also continue the discussion on TIME‘s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.