1. The document profiles the top ten CEOs including Jeff Bezos of Amazon, John Martin of Gilead Sciences, and John Chambers of Cisco Systems.
2. It provides a brief overview of each CEO and the company they lead, focusing on the industry, operations, size and acquisitions of the various technology, pharmaceutical and agricultural firms.
3. The CEOs represented work for major multinational corporations including Amazon, Gilead Sciences, Cisco, Allergan, Simon Property Group, Novo Nordisk, Monsanto, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Precision Castparts and PotashCorp.
2. Jeffrey Bezos, Amazon
Amazon.com, Inc. is an American electronic commerce and cloud
computing company that was founded on July 5, 1994 by Jeff Bezos and is based
in Seattle, Washington. The tech giant is the largest Internet-based retailer in the
world by total sales and market capitalization. Amazon.com started as an
online bookstore and later diversified to sell DVDs, Blurays, CDs, video
downloads/streaming, MP3 downloads/streaming, audio
book downloads/streaming, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture,
food, toys, and jewelry. The company also produces consumer electronics—
notably, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo—and is the world's
largest provider of cloud infrastructure services.
3. John Martin, Gilead
Sciences
Gilead Sciences is an American biopharmaceutical company that discovers,
develops and commercializes therapeutics. For many years since the company
was founded, the company concentrated primarily on antiviral drugs used in the
treatment of HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and influenza. In 2006, Gilead acquired
two companies which were developing drugs to treat patients with pulmonary
diseases. The company currently produces a range of commercially available
products, most notably the Hepatitis C drugs.
Headquartered and founded in Foster City, California, Gilead has operations in
North America, Europe and Australia. As of the end of 2015, the company had
approximately 7,900 full-time employees.Gilead is a member of the NASDAQ
Biotechnology Index and the S&P 500.
4. John Chambers, Cisco
Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (known as Cisco) is an
American multinational technology conglomerate headquartered in San Jose,
California, in the center of Silicon Valley, that develops, manufactures, and
sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment, and other high-
technology services and products.[4] Through its numerous acquired subsidiaries,
such as OpenDNS, WebEx, and Jasper, Cisco specializes into specific tech markets,
such as Internet of Things (IoT), domain security, and energy management.
Cisco is the largest networking company in the world. The stock was added to
the Dow Jones Industrial Average on June 8, 2009, and is also included in the S&P
500 Index, the Russell 1000 Index, NASDAQ-100 Index and the Russell 1000
Growth Stock Index.
5. David Pyott, Allergan
Allergan, Inc. is a global pharmaceutical company focused on eye care,
neurosciences, medical dermatology, medical aesthetics, breast enhancement,
obesity intervention and urologics. Allergan, Inc. was formed in 1948, incorporated
in 1950 and became a public company in 1970. Allergan became a publicly traded
company in 1970 and was acquired by SmithKline Beckman for $259 million in
1980.[3] After generating $756 million in revenue and $80 million in profit in 1988,
Allergan was spun-off by SmithKline Beckman in 1989.
6. David Simon, Simon Property
Group
Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American commercial real estate company in
the United States and the largest real estate investment trust (REIT). It is also the
largest shopping mall operator in America.
The company is a fully integrated real estate company which operates from five
retail real estate platforms: regional malls, Premium Outlet Centers, The Mills,
community/lifestyle centers and international properties. It currently owns or has
an interest in more than 325 properties comprising approximately 241,000,000
square feet (22,400,000 m2) of gross leasable area in North America and Asia.
The company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and employs more than
5,000 people worldwide. It is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol SPG
and is part of the S&P 100.
7. Lars Rebien Sørensen, Novo
Nordisk
Novo Nordisk is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered
in Bagsværd, Denmark, with production facilities in eight countries, and affiliates or
offices in 75 countries. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder, Novo
Holdings A/S, which holds approximately 25% of its shares and a supermajority (75%)
of its voting shares.
Novo Nordisk manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products and services. Key
products include diabetes care medications and devices. Novo Nordisk is also
involved with hemostasis management, growth hormone therapy and hormone
replacement therapy. The company makes several drugs under various brand names,
including Levemir, NovoLog, Novolin R, NovoSeven, NovoEight and Victoza.
8. Hugh Grant, Monsanto
Monsanto Company is a publicly traded
American multinational agrochemical and agricultural
biotechnology corporation. It is headquartered in Creve
Coeur, Greater St. Louis, Missouri. Monsanto is a leading
producer of genetically engineered (GE) seed and Roundup,
a gly phosate-based herbicide.
Monsanto has agreed to accept Bayer's offer to purchase the
company for $66 billion ($128/share) in September 2016, and
the deal is currently pending regulatory approval.
9. J. Michael Pearson,
Valeant Pharmaceuticals
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. is a
multinational specialty pharmaceutical company based
in Laval, Quebec, Canada. Valeant develops, manufactures
and markets a broad range of pharmaceutical products
primarily in the areas of dermatology, gastrointestinal
disorders, eye health, neurology and branded generics.
Valeant owns Bausch & Lomb, one of the largest
manufacturers of contact lenses.
Valeant grew quickly with a series of mergers and
acquisitions under the leadership of J. Michael Pearson and
for a short period of time in 2015 was the most valuable
company in Canada. Valeant was described as a platform
company that grows by systematically acquiring other
companies. Valeant acquired Salix Pharmaceuticals for $14.5
billion in 2015. Valeant tried to
acquire Actavis and Cephalon and merge with Allergan, but
failed.
10. Mark Donegan,
Precision Castparts
Precision Castparts Corp. is an American industrial goods and metal
fabrication company that manufactures investment castings, forged components,
and airfoil castings for use in the aerospace, industrial gas turbine, and defense
industries. In 2009 it ranked 362nd on the Fortune 500 list, and 11th in the
aerospace and defense industry. In 2015 it ranked 322nd overall and 9th in the
aerospace and defense industry. In 2014 it ranked 133rd on the S&P 500 based on
market capitalization. In January 2016, the company became
a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Before that event, it used to be one of the three
Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Oregon.
11. William
Doyle, PotashCorp
The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, also
known as PotashCorp, is a Canadian corporation
based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The company is
the world's largest potash producer and the third
largest producer of nitrogen and phosphate, three
primary crop nutrients used to produce fertilizer. At the
end of 2011, the company controlled twenty percent of
the world's potash production capacity, two percent of
nitrogen production capacity and five percent of
phosphate supply