A total of 129 Chief Executive Officers left their posts in the final month of 2018, capping the highest quarterly total for CEO changes since Challenger began tracking in 2002, according to a report released Wednesday by global outplacement consultancy and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Last month’s total is 35.8 percent higher than the 95 CEOs who left their posts in December 2017. It is 12.2 percent lower than the 147 CEO changes recorded the previous month.
Challenger tracked 1,452 CEO changes in 2018, 25.2 percent higher than the 1,160 CEOs who left their posts in 2017. It is just shy of the highest annual total on record in 2008, when 1,484 CEOs left their posts.
