The world's biggest newsmakers

From Rupert Murdoch to bill Gates and Warren Buffett, CEOs of the most influential companies in the world have always been in the news. Whether it’s about stock performance, a crisis situation or employee relations, the CEO’s reputation is critical for a company to remain in good health.

For the first time, Business Today in association with media analysts CARMA International has done an extensive study of the world’s hottest and most writtenabout CEOs—based on an annual analysis of the globe’s 20 most influential and well-resourced publications based out of the US, Singapore, Russia, UK, Germany, India and other countries.

Used to articles lauding them over the years, 2008-09 was a strange period for most CEOs as they came under intense media scrutiny and received a lot of negative publicity. The year saw many of the most powerful CEOs fall from grace and those praised as management gurus earlier, relegated to the pages of history as failures. For the period April 1, 2008-March 31, 2009, articles were selected for analysis if there was a prominent mention of a CEO—an interview, a substantial quote or a piece of analysis.

Nearly 24,000 articles were researched for the period and yet, surprisingly, no single CEO attracted even 4 per cent of the total count of mentions. The influence of the US corporations was profound with all top 10 most talked-about CEOs being at helm of US-based companies. With the state of the global economy worsening and financial institutions continuing to have the sharpest fingers pointed at them, the global media zeroed in on leaders of organisations battling the economic turmoil. As a result, the top 10 global CEOs this time are mostly from institutions at varying stages of financial crises.

Issues that attracted maximum media attention A total of 24,011 articles from 20 leading publications of the world were tracked between April 2008 and March 2009 The economic crisis ensured that 45 per cent of the articles (10,689) were concerned with financial conditions of companies A significant 8,038 articles (33 per cent) focussed on management issues, indicating that the competency of the top management was called into question a number of times Legal and regulatory matters also drew the attention of publications (1,181 articles) as some US firms filed for bankruptcy and others tottered on the brink of collapse Despite the large number of lay-offs and pay cuts, labour issues merited a mere 2 per cent (549 articles) of all articles tracked

Of the top 10 CEOs, five were or are at the helm of financial institutions (Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan). Of course, not all CEOs were pulled down by the general malaise of credit crunch. Clear exceptions were Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, whose esteem in global media circles became more apparent when the global subprime crisis surfaced. Notable, for instance, is also Steve Jobs of Apple, whose premier position was thanks to communications concerning innovations in consumer technology. In these troubled times, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo!’s Jerry Yang also gained high ranks, even though Microsoft’s much-hyped takeover bid of Yahoo! failed.However, overall, compared to Indian CEOs—many of whom faced extensive criticism from the media—the US media, in most cases, seemed to have surprisingly spared the CEOs when targeting the concerned companies and their management policies.

The Fab Five The top five CEOs on our list (some of them have quit their jobs during the survey period) have not always been in the limelight for the right reasons. Warren Buffett Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Buffett was commended for his leadership, as also for Berkshire Hathaway’s corporate dealings, namely bailouts for Swiss RE, or the offer to help Goldman Sachs. Rick Wagoner Rick Wagoner, Ex-General Motors Wagoner received a lot of negative publicity due to GM’s financial problems and had to quit in March 2009 under pressure from the Obama administration. Vikram Pandit Vikram Pandit, Citigroup Pandit considered a “superstar” over the summer of 2008, Pandit has somewhat fallen from grace. His competence was questioned as Citigroup’s problems escalated. Steve Ballmer Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Microsoft’s long-running hostile bid for Yahoo! through 2008 helped Ballmer stay in media glare with 591 mentions in tracked publications. Jerry Yang Jerry Yang, Yahoo! The failed Microsoft bid also ensured Yang, one of the world’s richest businessmen, received continuous media coverage through 2008.