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Good morning.
Which Fortune 500 CEO is most admired by their peers? Each year, as part of our annual survey, we ask the CEOs of the 500 which leader—other than themselves—they most admire. The top choice this year was the same as last: JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, who got 23% of mentions. Dimon’s candid style, as well as his leadership of the Business Roundtable, have cemented his respect among colleagues.
Moving up from last year was Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, mentioned by 16% of the CEOs, compared to 7% last year. And slipping back was Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, mentioned by 17% last year and 7% this year—putting him on a par with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Other CEOs with more than one mention: Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, GE’s Larry Culp, Mastercard’s Ajay Banga, J&J’s Alex Gorsky, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett. Bill Gates, who is no longer a Fortune 500 CEO, also got three mentions.
When asked which one of the 500 companies they would invest in, CEOs took a different approach. Amazon shot to the top of the list, chosen by 40%—far ahead of second place Microsoft, chosen by 9%. JPMorgan got a single nod.
Asked which 500 company they would short, the CEO’s top choice was: Tesla. But Musk still wins my vote for the CEO with the most entertaining Twitter feed.
The new Fortune 500 list is out Monday—with a surprise in the top five. More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
German recession
Germany's GDP shrank 2.2% in Q1 (that's quarter-on-quarter; year-on-year was 2.3%). The drop was entirely in line with analyst expectations, but still the country's worst quarterly GDP drop since Q1 2009. With German's Federal Statistics Office also revising Q4 2019 down to a mild drop, that means the country is now technically in a recession. In happier news, the latest estimated virus transmission rate in Germany is back down to 0.75, indicating success in keeping the coronavirus outbreak under control even while lifting restrictions, as Germany has been doing in recent weeks. Fortune
TSMC U.S.
The world's biggest contract manufacturer of silicon chips is to spend $12 billion building a plant in Arizona, according to the Wall Street Journal. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., better known as TSMC, is apparently responding to concerns in the U.S. about over-dependence on Asia for chip manufacturing. WSJ
Calhoun candor
Boeing CEO David Calhoun is less than popular with his customers after predicting that a major U.S. airline would likely go bust this year. His prediction, made in an interview earlier this week, apparently irked American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, who called Calhoun to complain. Given the state of the airline industry right now, Calhoun may not have been wrong—but saying it out loud was never going to win friends. WSJ
Solvay cuts
And here's another indication of aerospace-sector misery. The Belgian chemicals firm Solvay is closing two of the plants where it manufactures cutting-edge composite materials for planemakers Boeing and Airbus—570 jobs, or around 20% of Solvay's workforce, will go. Solvay had already started cutting costs due to the Boeing 737 Max groundings, but COVID-19 will mean further drops in demand for civil aircraft. Bloomberg
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Richard Burr
Republican Senator Richard Burr, who is being investigated for alleged insider trading, has temporarily resigned his chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee after it emerged that the FBI had searched his house, seized his cellphone, and served a warrant on Apple to provide information from his iCloud account. Burr: "I believe this step is necessary to allow the committee to continue its essential work free of external distractions." Fortune
WeWork burn
WeWork's cash burn for Q1 was 60% lower than the previous quarter, clocking in at a *cough* mere $482 million. Luckily for the office-space firm, whose business has obviously been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, it had already initiated huge cost-cutting measures in the wake of its abortive IPO debacle last year. Financial Times
WTO chief
Roberto Azevêdo is to step down as director-general of the World Trade Organization at the end of August, more than a year before his second term was due to end. The Brazilian's departure comes during a time of partial paralysis for the WTO, due to the U.S.' blockage of judges to its appellate body—a move that essentially means the WTO can't settle trade disputes, which is sort of the point of the organization. Deutsche Welle
Clinical trials
COVID-19 could change how the pharmaceutical industry performs clinical trials. As Fortune's Erika Fry writes here, the pandemic is forcing more stripped-down trials that break with orthodox approaches, though many argue there has never been a greater need for rigorous, well-designed clinical trials. Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
