CEO See-Ya!

Wash-n-Go

With governance specialists Glass, Lewis & Co., we propose Maytag's Ralph Hake as this month's candidate for spring cleaning.

Maytag Corp.

CEO: Ralph Hake
Tenure: 4 years

Four-Year Record*

Total Shareholder Return: -44.7%
Peer Index Return: 26.4%
S&P 500 Index Return: -0.6%
Total CEO Pay: $4.9 million

The Maytag repairman has always been lonely -- but now, apparently, it's because no one buys his products. Cheaper Asian appliances continue to make inroads, a restructuring has fallen flat, and the company has cut its 2005 earnings guidance in half. A Maytag spokesman says Hake has reinvented the company during the appliance industry's most challenging period. The silver lining: Private-equity shop Ripplewood Holdings plans to buy Maytag. It says it will keep Hake on. Or is that just the spin cycle talking?

*Data from Glass, Lewis & Co. and FactSet Research Systems for four years ending June 13, 2005.