Sometimes they come back. Indeed, more often than you imagine. According to Spencer Stuart, a US research firm, there are 22 company heads of companies listed on Wall Street who in the last ten years have returned to the head of the corporations from which they had resigned after a long and well-paid activity: nine have accepted interim positions waiting for a definitive successor. 13 others, however, returned to the saddle full-time. And the list is bound to get longer because it doesn't take into account the latest twists. Sergio Ermotti, first of all. the Ticino banker recalled by popular acclaim to pilot UBS after the purchase of Crédit Suisse. But, even in the absence of an official assignment, one cannot help but mention the comeback of Jack Ma, the mythical creator of Alibaba. For now, just a teacher in Hangzhou, but already capable of inflaming the imagination of investors who have rewarded the stock with a rise that, both in the US and in Hong Kong, exceeded 17% in one week.
Ubs, Disney, Starbuck and Alibaba: the charge of the old CEOs
But that's not enough. During the week, the deeds of two other old glories who returned to the fore contributed to supporting the fashion of the "vintage CEO": Bob Iger, again number one in Walt Disney, ed Howard Schultz, for the third time called to lead the empire of Starbucks. Both proved to be worthy of fame. Iger began by launching a drastic cut in Mickey Mouse's accounts: 7 layoffs, starting with his rival Isaac Pearlmutter who, at the helm of the Marvel subsidiary, supported the takeover by raider Nelson Peltz.
Bob Iger in Disney: Checkmate Ron DeSantis in Florida
Iger, 72 years old, a past as a journalist and political ambitions in thedemocratic area, has also trimmed in recent days a kick in the shins of Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump's rival Republican governor of Florida. DeSantis. in hatred of Disney's opposition to the "don't say gay" law which imposes strict censorship on films and the management of playgrounds, canceled the old law which gave Mickey Mouse control of the special district of the area where it stands disneyworld. “There's a new sheriff in town” thundered the governor as he presented the new team to moralize the playground. But Thursday came cold shower: regulation in hand, Disney has asked to settle the debt issue: either the new board takes on the repayment of debts, including obligations for business development, or it goes bankrupt and closes down.
In short, woe to joke with Iger, already exalted by an old glory of the markets who, in truth, never retired: Carl Icahn, the king of climbers who from cars to planes passing through Las Vegas populates at least half a century the chronicles of Wall Street. “To restart we need a Bob Iger-style manager” he wrote in a lletter to Illumina shareholders, a leading San Diego genomics company, the victim of an ill-fated takeover contested by authorities. Nothing better than calling up the old CEO "someone who has never made certain mistakes".
Schultz at Starbucks: no to the union but increased wages for everyone
The majority of the shareholders also think so Starbucks whom they recalled to the command deck Howard Schultz, the founder of the empire of bars that preside over the cities of China and America, as well as the centers of half of Europe. Only he, according to analysts, could put the ship back on track, badly damaged by the blows of the pandemic. And he, old democratic, set off with unexpected grit, hiring a historian tug of war with the unions. Since his return at the helm of the group, he has granted wage increases and time cuts to 250 baristas on condition that he keeps the union out of the bars. The result? A tough exchange of accusations in the courts until Schultz himself was summoned to Congress by Bernie Sanders for a confrontation that was full on TV.
Ermotti on track for the giant Ubs-Credit Suisse
But what drives the phenomenon, a real boomerang effect that has affected at least fifty players in the global economy in recent years? “When business performance goes off the rails – explains Jim Citrin of spencer stuart – companies tend to backtrack. And the presence of a strong and well-connected leader in the corporate levers could be the right move". The strong powers of Switzerland have probably thought of this by proposing to the markets the figure of Sergio Ermotti: from Ticino, a broken promise from Lugano Calcio, an investment banker at Unicredit where the foundations didn't have the courage to reward the manager who guaranteed more than half of the profits. Returning to his homeland, it was he a to get UBS out of the shallows of the 2008 crisis exalting the vocation of "bank of the rich", specialized in wealth management but also, no less important, completing a ruthless cleaning operation, the one that the cousins/rivals of the Swiss credit. Today he tries again and back to Ubs. At stake is a political and strategic game of great importance. Either superSergio (in the past alongside Marchionne) succeeds in the enterprise by giving Europe the first systemic bank able to compete, given its size, with the US giants, or Switzerland will lose a good part of its appeal.
Jack Ma: Exile first, then unpack Alibaba into six and win
But no challenge, in reality, has the political and systemic value of the return to the scene of Jack Ma, the myth of the Chinese tech economy, which disappeared from the radar just under three years ago for having dared to criticize the leadership of the Beijing banking system which it intended to undermine without too many compliments with the launch of AntGroup, a real mass Fintech capable of blowing up China's mechanisms of power, not just banking. Xi Jing Ping's reaction, as we know, was not long in coming: Alibaba, from a stock market value of more than 850 billion dollars, has slipped below 200 billion, after fines and limits on activity that have also affected the rest of the country's hi tech, from online language schools to social networks and financial apps.
Jack Ma ended up in exile volunteer, first in Spain then making a snail's pace to China. The return to Hangzhou, his hometown, took place at the beginning of the week precisely coinciding with a conciliatory speech by Li Quiang, the new prime minister of Beijing who has to restart the economy bent by Covid but also by the bureaucracy which has regained power at the expense of private initiative. But the registry could change. This is what the financial markets think, having read into the decision taken by Zang, Ma's pupil and successor, to transform Alibaba in a holding company headed by six operating companies to be listed on the Stock Exchange with the aim of resuming the creation of value. For now, Professor Ma, who has been involved in distance learning in recent years, remains in the background. But who knows, the boomerang effect can also work in China.
