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Kevin Plank, founder and chief executive officer of Under Armour Inc., speaks during the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
In the past two weeks, McDonald’s and Under Armour lost their CEOs, continuing the record-setting pace of exits this year by the heads of U.S. businesses.
October marked the highest month on record with 172 chief executives leaving their posts, according to business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
CEO departures hit a record high for the year with 1,332 U.S. based companies announcing CEO departures through October. This is the highest year-to-date level since the firm started tracking in 2002 and higher than during the financial crisis. This year is on pace to have the most departures on record.
“October was marked by a number of high-profile CEO exits, with many being held accountable for various missteps, whether in their professional handling of the company or in their personal lives,” the firm’s Vice President Andrew Challenger said in a note to clients.
Just this week, fast-food giant McDonald’s fired its CEO Steve Easterbrook for having a relationship with an employee. This came after Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, who built the athletic-ware company from scratch in his grandmother’s basement, said he was stepping down as CEO on January 1. Plank’s announcement came right before the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission said they are investigating Under Armour for its accounting practices.
Not all CEOs are leaving because of board decisions or to retire. October brought a fair of amount of C-suite shuffle.
Bill McDermott is stepped down as CEO of SAP after more than nine years running the German software company, to replace John Donahoe as the CEO of ServiceNow. Donahoe is jumping ship to Nike to replace longtime CEO Mark Parker. Donahoe was formerly the CEO of eBay and is chairman of the board at PayPal.
Challenger tracks CEO changes at companies that have been in business for at least two years, with a minimum of ten employees.
The technology sector announced the second-highest number of CEO changes this year, 181. That number is up 24% from the number of tech CEOs out of the job last year through October.
