We can now add Bristol-Myers Squibb and Hewlett-Packard to the record number of major U.S. companies that have forced out their chairmen or chief executives in the past two years, either under a cloud of suspicion or because they had failed to deliver a decent return to shareholders.
It's an amazing list: Pfizer, Merck, Ford, Boeing, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, AIG, Disney, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Viacom. These were supposed to be the bluest of the blue-chip companies, bastions of stability and predictability. Even more surprising is that their troubles have come during a period of extraordinary growth in corporate profits, with the federal government firmly in the hands of pro-business policymakers and regulators.
The details of these corporate melodramas vary. But the common thread has been the newfound assertion of authority and responsibility by corporate boards of directors. Whether out of fear of legal liability, or concern for their own reputations, or simply out of the recognition in the wake of Enron and WorldCom that they hadn't been doing their jobs, directors have finally found their collective voice and developed backbone.
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