INfact

August 18 2009 by ChiefExecutive.net


Information begins with facts, which can be assembled to identify trends. Put it all together to derive knowledge. Presenting Chief Executive’s INfact.

  1. Percent of CEOs whose letters to shareholders are disclosing, candid and balanced, free of jargon, spin, clichés and confusion, according to the 2008 CEO Candor Survey | 16%
  2. Number of consecutive years the average stock prices of the top-25-ranked companies in the CEO Candor Survey outperformed the 25 bottom-ranked companies | 7
  3. Rank of Sherwin-Williams, Entergy and 3M on the list of companies with the best records for candid CEO letters to shareholders | 1, 2, 3
  4. Rank of Citigroup, Humana and AIG on the list of companies with the worst records | 1, 2, 3
  5. Number of CEOs who announced their departure in June 2009, 17 percent lower than the same period in 2008, when 126 CEO changes were announced | 105
  6. Of 672 companies (the combined Fortune 500 and S&P 500), the number that have added new CEOs in the first six months of 2009 | 39
  7. Average reduction in pay for CEOs of the 500 biggest companies in the U.S. in 2008 following a 15% collective pay cut in 2007 | 11%
  8. Sum of the compensation of all CEOs of the 500 biggest companies in the U.S. in 2008 | $5.7 billion
  9. Average compensation per CEO | $11.4 million
  10. Individual CEO compensation expressed as a percentage of total profits of their companies | 3%
  11. Reduction in pay for U.S. Airways hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger III since 1980, according to his congressional testimony | 40%
  12. Of the 34 companies worldwide that have a market capitalization exceeding $100 billion, the number that are U.S.-based | 16
  13. The number of companies based in China, the country with the next largest number of $100 billion-plus companies | 5
  14. Number of U.S. companies with a market cap of $40 billion or more in 1980, which translates into $100 billion today after adjusting for inflation | 3
  15. The average percentage change in sales of these three companies (Exxon, IBM and ATT) from 2007 to 2008 | -19%
  16. Amount of damages Microsoft is seeking in a lawsuit against three Canadians for click fraud | $775,000
  17. Contribution of this award to Microsoft’s bottom line, expressed as a percentage of Microsoft’s 2008 revenues of $60.42 billion | .000128%
  18. The ratio of The New York Times Company closing share stock price as of July 13, 2009, ($4.72) to the newsstand price of one issue of The Sunday New York Times ($5.00) | 10:9
  19. Percentage of homeowners over age 62 who have paid off their mortgages and have no home equity loans or reverse mortgages | 64.5
  20. The average rate for a weekly airport rental of a compact car booked seven days in advance in June 2009, up 65 percent compared with the same period in 2008 | $347.44
  21. Ratio of subscription revenues divided between Amazon and newspapers and magazines, respectively, that want to distribute content on the Kindle reader | 70:30
  22. Number of hours a day the average employee worries about personal job concerns, such as layoffs | 2.8
  23. Value of the largest percentage (52%) of estates that filed tax returns in 2007, when only 3% of estates were valued at $20 million and higher | $2–$3.5 million
  24. Number of transactions of individuals selling blood plasma to private blood centers in 2008, up from 15 million in 2007 | 18.8 million
  25. The amount that France lowered its tax rate in July on food and drinks in restaurants in hopes of luring tourists and locals to struggling cafes, reducing a typical €50 meal by €7.05 | 72%
  26. Earnings per share of the S&P 500 in 1Q 2009, up from a loss of $24.25 per share the previous quarter (the largest loss on record) | $7.57
  27. Change since March 2008 in the total amount of credit extended to Americans through consumer credit cards | -$349.3 billion
  28. Percent change in the past two months in the number of U.S. cars and trucks repossessed | +12
  29. Number of times in 2008 that the S&P 500 closed up or down 5 percent in a single day | 17
  30. Number of times between 1956 and 2007 it did this | 17
  31. Number of applications submitted last fall for a $10,000 collegiate “blogging scholarship” | 1,902
  32. Number that turned out to be spam | 557
  33. Percentage of unfaithful female multimillionaires who say they plan to spend less on their paramours this year | 15
  34. Percentage of unfaithful male multimillionaires who say this | 82
  35. Of the 20 biggest companies in the world, the number that gained in market cap, 2007–2008 | 2 (Wal-Mart Stores and Volkswagen)
  36. The average amount of equity Americans have in their homes as a percentage of home values, by far the lowest level on record and down from 59% in 2005 | 41%
  37. Number of possible four-letter domain names | 456,976
  38. Number of available four-letter .com domain names | 3,293
  39. Number of names that Interbrand developed for Microsoft’s new search engine (winning name, Bing; runners-up, Kumo, Hook) | 2,000
  40. Change in shipments of business jets in 1Q 2009 vs. a year earlier | -36%

John Kador can be contacted at jkador@jkador.com

Sources: 1–4 Rittenhouse Rankings; 5–6 Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.; 7–10 Forbes; 11 New York Times; 12–13 Capital IQ; 14–17 Chief Executive research; 18 The New York Times Company; 19 American Housing Survey, 2007; 20 Abrams Consulting Group, Purchase, N.Y.; 21 Amazon; 22 Lynn Taylor Consulting, Santa Barbara, CA; 23–25 Fortune; 26 Standard & Poor’s; 27 Veribanc, Inc., Woonsocket, RI; 28 Manheim Consulting, Marshall, VA; 29–30 The Vanguard Group, Malvern, PA; 31–32 College Scholarships.org, Oakland, CA; 33–34 Prince & Associates, Redding, CT; 35 Capital IQ; 36 Fortune; 37–38 Go Daddy; 39 Fortune; 40 General Aviation Manufacturers Association