CEOs Who Should Lose Their Jobs

Other lowlights

Race to buy up the world's funeral homes with high-priced stock ended in disaster in 1999 for the company and the industry. Now working hard to unwind the buying spree of the previous decade. Half the directors are either insiders or have other relationships with the company or with Waltrip. Took a $15 million charge in second-quarter 2003 after losing an investor's lawsuit that went to arbitration.

CEO: Patrick Ryan

Tenure: 21 years

Total shareholder return*: -39.9%

Peer return*: -32.6

S&P 500 Index return: -7.8%

Total Pay**: $17.9 million

Other lowlights

In a good business climate for insurance companies, margins have continued to disappoint partly because an acquisition spree hasn't been well- integrated. Stock down almost 50% in five years. Major restructuring at end of 2000 has yet to show cost savings and has reportedly alienated many of the company's insurance brokers, some of whom left with their clients. S&P credit rating outlook changed to negative in August.

*For five years ending 6/30/03. Split-adjusted, includes dividends but not dividend reinvestment. **Includes salary, bonus, stock-option exercises, and other long-term compensation totaled for the past five years. Data: Bain & Co, Standard & Poor's CompuStat, The Corporate Library, Stephanie Bednar at Media General Financial Services, Yahoo Finance, Ibbotson Associates, and company data and proxy statements.

Sidebar: The Dog Ate My P&L

What Went Wrong...in Their Own Words

Patrick Ryan, CEO, Aon Corp.

[1999] "Fourth quarter results also reflected a disappointing falloff in certain areas of our brokerage businesses, as well as a decline in income from equity investments. These temporarily low results will not change the significant growth opportunities for a company with the scale, depth, and technologies of Aon."

[2002] "At the beginning of 2002, we planned to start a specialty property and casualty insurance venture through the spin-off of our underwriting businesses....Later in the year, however, it became evident that the negative impact of the financial markets on our investment income and pension assets, coupled with losses suffered from September 11, would preclude Aon from building a major new venture."

Robert Waltrip, CEO, Service Corporation International

[1999] "1999 was the most difficult year in SCI's history. At this point, I can assure you that the performance issues have been, and are continuing to be, addressed...Difficult decisions were made, and necessary action was taken."

[Second quarter 2003] "The primary challenges include a lack of near-term growth in the number of deaths and an increasing trend toward cremation. Although the United States Census Bureau projects that the number of deaths will grow up to 1% annually through 2010, modern advances in medicine and healthier lifestyles could reduce the numbers of deaths during this time."

Peter Karmanos Jr., CEO, Compuware

[2000] "Our profit margins continued to be among the highest in the industry although our stock price slumped due to the fact that we missed our analysts' expectations."

[2002] "Increasing revenue growth for a billion-dollar plus company is a much greater challenge than increasing growth for a smaller organization. This law of large numbers is compounded by the hangover currently affecting our industry."

Christopher Galvin, CEO, Motorola

[2001] "Like others we inopportunely chased the dotcom and telecom boom...Then came the reality of 2001. A telecom equipment downturn affecting both wireline and wireless. The worst semiconductor decline in history. Dotcom busts. A U.S. recession. Appalling terrorist acts. Delays in the deployment of next-generation wireless technology. A large customer default. Sales of only $30 billion. Major and painful corporation-wide resizing. Regrettable financial charges."

[2002] "We expect to grow the way we did prior to the artificially inflated growth that resulted from the telecom and dotcom booms in the late 1990s."

Michael Eisner, CEO, Walt Disney Co.

[1998] "The business cycle has its own seasons, which are not ruled by the orderly and predictable orbit of the earth around the sun. Indeed, at Disney, we live by a 60-month calendar. We set our goals over rolling five-year timelines."

[2002] "...[W]ere the economy more robust and were the travel industry not in a slump, the numbers for 2002 would be much more positive....Failure is educational. It keeps one humble. We must and do learn from these failures."