terms and conditions
Real-time Company News, Economic Reports, Analyst Calls, Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations and Key Industry News as it happens.
Several CEOs and founders of well-known American companies have complete control over their companies. Through voting power, they control the boards and strategic decisions of these corporations. The best current example is Facebook, which will go public in a few weeks. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg owns enough of the voting shares in the company that his decisions cannot be overruled by outside shareholders or the board under most circumstances. Zuckerberg is also the most visible American CEO among a small group who have complete control of their companies and how long they will remain at their jobs.
Read The Most Powerful CEOs in America
Read The Least Powerful CEOs in America
The most powerful CEOs fall into three categories. The first are founders who are currently CEOs. They may, by themselves, or with other founders, have voting control over their companies. Larry Page of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is the best example of this. He started the Internet search engine with Sergey Brin. Together with Google's chairman Eric Schmidt, who they hired, the three hold shares that have nearly two-thirds of the company's voting rights.
The next category is founders who no longer have the majority of the vote in their companies, but who have been in charge successfully for so long that their job security is not in question. Jeff Bezos at Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is the best example of this group. He owns slightly less than 20% of the company that he started in 1994. This stake is greater than that of any other shareholder. But it is his status as founder and his tremendous success that ensure he will not be replaced unless he wishes to be.
The final category of powerful CEOs are relatives of founders. These CEOs inherited the voting rights, usually from their parents, and they use those rights to run the company for another generation. The best example of this is Brian Roberts of Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), whose father started the company. By almost any measure, Comcast has done well financially and in the stock market. Even if it did not, Roberts would have his job.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed the corporate structure, governance and voting rights of the 500 largest companies by market cap. Based on a review of company proxies, we identified those companies where the CEO had voting control of the company or was the company's founder. We then limited the universe to those companies with market cap in excess of $30 billion.
These are 24/7 Wall St.'s most powerful CEOs in America.
Next » Pages: 1 2 3 Buzz up! Digg Fark Facebook Reddit Tumblr « The European Recession Spreads The Least Powerful CEOs in America » Read more: Special Report, the most powerful CEOs, the most powerful CEOs in America, AAPL, AMZN, AXP, BRK-A, BRK-B, CMCSA, GE, GOOG, GRPN, HPQ, IBM, KO, MSFT, ORCL, SAP, T, VZ, WFC, ZNGA Popular: The States Taxing the Poor MostThe Most Powerful CEOs in AmericaAmerica's Nine Most Damaged BrandsThe 10 Most Hated Companies in AmericaEight Products the Facebook Generation Will Not Buy (function($){$(function(){ var count = 0; var rsi = setInterval(function() { if($('#fb-comments iframe').length) { clearInterval(rsi); $('#fb-comments').removeAttr('width');$('#fb-comments,#fb-comments iframe').css('width', '100%'); } if(count++ > 100) { // 10 seconds have gone by, still no iframe. $('#fb-comments').html(""); } }, 100);});})(jQuery); google_ad_client = "pub-8647138831804708"; google_ad_slot = "0533281206"; google_ad_width = 300; google_ad_height = 250; document.write(''); Recent Posts Annaly Earnings, Spotlight on Dividend Yield (NLY) Green Mountain Turns Earnings Into Mud Bath, Shares Off 37% Whole Foods Shows Great Earnings As Valuation Premium Looms (WFM) 24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (CHK, COP, RSH, STM, AIZ, ABX, MRO, MA, AGN, AUY, TWX, CLX, RDC, RRD, MSO, IACI, FSLR, DSX, COCO, APA, OWW, WNR, CMCSA, SVNT) Arch Coal Credit Downgrade (ACI) Wireless Company Accused of Calling in Chinese Muscle (UBNT, PCS, USM) Second Look: Is There Any Real Value Left In Savient? (SVNT, DNDN, SVNT) Amazon to Develop Sitcoms, Kids Shows (AMZN, NFLX, DIS, TWX, CBS, VIAB) Target Dumps Kindle Devices (TGT, AMZN, AAPL, BKS, MSFT, GOOG) Only A Few Big Retail/Apparel Winners Expected For April (JWN, SKS, LULU, KORS, AEO) Get Quote for: Symbol Lookup Search Hong Kong's H-share index down 1.3% at 11,005.64 Shanghai Composite falls 0.3% to 2,432.23 Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 0.5% at 21,207.36 IMF Says Still Awaiting Viable Economic Plan From Egypt Abu Dhabi's Taqa, Dutch EBN Get Bergermeer Gas Storage Project Approval PBOC Offers $10.4 Billion Reverse Repos To Boost Liquidity 24K Nation: Are Americans Crazy to Think Gold Is the Safest Investment? A Rebellion at the Federal Reserve? How the Global Rich Create Ghost Neighborhoods Why Avon Will Never Be Great Again 2 Ways Walmart Is Making You Pay for Its Mexican Corruption P.F. Chang's to Go Private: Buyout Bid Adds a 30% Tip to Stock Westpac Reports Record Cash Earnings Amid Subdued Market Yanzhou Coal Bond Investor Roadshow Ends May 9 - Source Rio Tinto Expectations For Longterm Commodities Demand Unchanged -CEO 6 Things You Can Learn From Virgin America Bloomberg Budget Brawl: Children's Advocates Scramble To Save New York's State-Of-The-Art After-School System On Eve Of Massive Cuts Escort to Wall Street Men: You Are Bad In Bed Facebook, Google Could Fall Apart Romney's Bain Pal: Rich Should Get Richer At London Olympics, World's Biggest ... McDonald's? Put It in the Win Column (OPEN, MA, TRIP, TRLG, SXCI, END) Resilient Market Requires Patient Buyers (SFLY, FIRE, VECO, PFCB, NEXS, HLF) This Week's Tech Earnings Winners and Losers: JDS Uniphase, Atmel, Dragonwave, and More (ATML, DRWI, JDSU, OIIM, ONNN, IRF, POWI, PWER, QLGC, SPRD, OCLR, OPXT, FNSR) India's Traditional Power Sources on Razor Edge of Supply Big Brother is Bipartisan, Good to Know Is Constant Economic Growth Possible? Home About Us Disclaimer and Terms of Use Privacy Policy Contact Us Advertise ©2012 24/7 Wall St. | Powered by WordPress.com VIP jQuery(function($){ var adBox = null; $(".ad").click(function() { adBox = null; var ad = $(this); var adid = ad.attr('id'); track('Ad Click', adid.match(/ad-(.+)/)[1], "User has clicked on " + ad.attr('addesc')); }); $(".iframe-ad") .mouseover(function(){ adBox = $(this).find('.ad'); }) .mouseout(function(){ adBox = null; }); var adtrack = function(ev) { if(adBox) { track('Ad Click', adBox.attr('adid'), "User has clicked on (iframe) " + adBox.attr('addesc')); adBox = null; } }; $(window).blur(adtrack); $(window).focusout(adtrack); }); if (typeof tb_pathToImage != 'string') { var tb_pathToImage = 'http://247wallst.com/wp-includes/js/thickbox/loadingAnimation.gif'; } if (typeof tb_closeImage != 'string') { var tb_closeImage = 'http://247wallst.com/wp-includes/js/thickbox/tb-close.png'; } label.error { display: block; color: red; } object, embed { position: relative !important; z-index: 0 !important; } /* */ var _qevents = _qevents || [], wpcomQuantcastData = {"qacct":"p-18-mFEk4J448M","labels":",language.en,type.wpcom,posttag.aapl,posttag.amzn,posttag.axp,posttag.brk-a,posttag.brk-b,posttag.cmcsa,posttag.ge,posttag.goog,posttag.grpn,posttag.hpq,posttag.ibm,posttag.ko,posttag.msft,posttag.orcl,posttag.sap,posttag.t,posttag.vz,posttag.wfc,posttag.znga,vip.247wallst"}; function wpcomQuantcastPixel( labels, options ) { var i, defaults = wpcomQuantcastData, data = { event: 'ajax' }; labels = labels || ''; options = options || {}; if ( typeof labels != 'string' ) options = labels; for ( i in defaults ) { data[i] = defaults[i]; } for ( i in options ) { data[i] = options[i]; } if ( data.labels ) { data.labels += ',' + labels; } else { data.labels = labels; } _qevents.push( data ); }; (function() {var elem = document.createElement('script');elem.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://secure" : "http://edge") + ".quantserve.com/quant.js";elem.async = true;elem.type = "text/javascript";var scpt = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];scpt.parentNode.insertBefore(elem, scpt); })(); _qevents.push( wpcomQuantcastData ); /* a.like').click( function(e) { e.preventDefault(); var postid = $(this).parent().attr('id').split('like-')[1]; $.post( 'http://247wallst.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', { 'action': 'wpl_record_stat', 'stat_name': 'loggedout_like_click' } ); var tenMins = new Date(); tenMins.setTime( tenMins.getTime() + 600000 ); document.cookie = 'wpl_rand=65dabf05b1; expires=' + tenMins.toGMTString() + '; domain=wordpress.com; path=/;'; $(this).parent().siblings('.wpl-count').after( '\ \ \Just one more step to like this:
\ Username \ Password \ \ \ \ \Not a member yet? Sign up with WordPress.com
\ \ \ '); $('#wpl-mustlogin').hide().slideDown('fast'); } ); $('#wpl-mustlogin input.input').live( 'focus', function() { $(this).prev().hide(); }).live( 'blur', function() { if ( $(this).val() == '' ) { $(this).prev().show(); } }); $('#wpl-mustlogin input#wp-submit').live( 'click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); $.post( 'http://247wallst.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', { 'action': 'wpl_record_stat', 'stat_name': 'loggedout_login_submit' }, function() { $('#wpl-mustlogin form').submit(); } ); }); $('#wpl-mustlogin a#wpl-signup-link').live( 'click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); var link = $(this).attr('href'); $.post( 'http://247wallst.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', { 'action': 'wpl_record_stat', 'stat_name': 'loggedout_signup_click' }, function() { location.href = link; } ); }); }) })(jQuery); /* ]]> */ jQuery(document).ready(function($){ Gravatar.profile_cb = function( h, d ) { WPGroHo.syncProfileData( h, d ); }; Gravatar.my_hash = WPGroHo.my_hash; Gravatar.init( 'body', '#wp-admin-bar-my-account' ); }); // st_go({'blog':'5450697','v':'wpcom','user_id':'0','post':'142827','subd':'247wallst'}); function st_vt() {var x=document.createElement("img");x.src="http://stats.wordpress.com/g.gif?blog=5450697&v=wpcomvt&user_id=0&post=142827&subd=247wallst&rand="+Math.random();} ex_go({'crypt':'UE40eW5QN0p8M2Y/RE1BNmNJfGhxNCVxUDExYmtXUVYmb2hZL0lEQT9qcF9NWi1bMDJfLy90VXNvY2U3ZFZ1RWlDan5dUUVCUnh3VDl+a3VYTjBweUliV3c/cG1hUDcuPWkuUm44TW52d1BMSno9TmFPSUU/Ri9BXV1jZWRwLy5sSHNTZm9fcz04dUpfLEFOai9jLC9lUjcyU1s5K2U0R04lSldmaVBWY1U5cEdDZS9ra1VoMmUuWVlyKy55enZ4WXprfEYwdjF2YndFRy18OXw4Jnk3PzhGW1ZzT1pNS0s5UE1xLlt5K18xZklHTUN1MUItKw=='}); addLoadEvent(function(){linktracker_init('5450697',142827);}); WallStPopup("newsletter-popup", "http://247wallst.com/page/newsletter-signup-b", "http%3A%2F%2F247wallst.com%2F2012%2F05%2F02%2Fthe-most-powerful-ceos-in-america%2F", 428, 427, "b", "Newsletter Popup (B)");Read The Most Powerful CEOs in America
Read The Least Powerful CEOs in America
The most powerful CEOs fall into three categories. The first are founders who are currently CEOs. They may, by themselves, or with other founders, have voting control over their companies. Larry Page of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is the best example of this. He started the Internet search engine with Sergey Brin. Together with Google's chairman Eric Schmidt, who they hired, the three hold shares that have nearly two-thirds of the company's voting rights.
The next category is founders who no longer have the majority of the vote in their companies, but who have been in charge successfully for so long that their job security is not in question. Jeff Bezos at Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is the best example of this group. He owns slightly less than 20% of the company that he started in 1994. This stake is greater than that of any other shareholder. But it is his status as founder and his tremendous success that ensure he will not be replaced unless he wishes to be.
The final category of powerful CEOs are relatives of founders. These CEOs inherited the voting rights, usually from their parents, and they use those rights to run the company for another generation. The best example of this is Brian Roberts of Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), whose father started the company. By almost any measure, Comcast has done well financially and in the stock market. Even if it did not, Roberts would have his job.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed the corporate structure, governance and voting rights of the 500 largest companies by market cap. Based on a review of company proxies, we identified those companies where the CEO had voting control of the company or was the company's founder. We then limited the universe to those companies with market cap in excess of $30 billion.
These are 24/7 Wall St.'s most powerful CEOs in America.
Read Full Article »