Elon Musk criticizes Twitter's board members for not owning much of the company's shares. And they don't. But it turns out the same criticism applies to most S&P 500 CEOs, too.
Just eight CEOs in the S&P 1500 own at least 35% of their companies, including Ellen Gordon of former meme stock Tootsie Roll, Kenneth Tuchman of technology firm TTEC and Jack Bendheim of Philbro Animal Health, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.
Not a single S&P 500 CEO, including Musk at Tesla, own that much of their company stock. Musk owns less than 17% of his electric car maker. Albeit, that stake is worth more than $170 billion given that the company itself is valued at more than $1 trillion. And yet, Musk owns a larger piece of his company than any other CEO in the S&P 500.
But it might beg the question of which CEOs do hold giant stakes of their companies?
How Many Shares Does A Tootsie Roll CEO Own?
When it comes to a CEO with a giant position, no one touches Tootsie Roll's Gordon. Gordon and her late husband, Melvin, controlled the candy maker for decades.
And she still does. Ms. Gordon, 89, owns more than 63% of the company. She's been the company's CEO since January 2015 and a member of the board since 1969. Her commanding stake in the company is worth more than $1.5 billion. That's miles larger than anyone else's position in the company. The No. 2 holder of Tootsie Roll is Leigh Weiner with just 7.7%.
But more interestingly, few S&P 1500 CEOs own pieces of their companies anywhere near the size of Gordon's. Kenneth Tuchman, 61, is No. 2 with a 59% position in the digital branding company he founded back in 1982. He's been CEO since 1994 and chairman of the board since that same year. Now, his position in the company is worth more than $2.2 billion.
Famous Big Owners Beyond The S&P 500
Some big-time CEO owners remain closely linked with their companies' brands. Perhaps the best example is Vincent McMahon, 75, who still owns a muscular 38.6% position in the wrestling media company World Wrestling Entertainment. That's the No. 1 position in the company, topping even BlackRock at 8% and Vanguard at 5.6%. McManon's position is now worth $1.7 billion. He's been chairman since 1987 and CEO since 2009. And he's also no stranger to actually entering the ring.
Similarly, Timothy Boyle, 71, still retains a 36.5% position in his Columbia Sportswear, with the nearly ubiquitous diamond-shaped logo. His stake is valued at more than $2 billion, outsizing Vanguard's No. 2 position at $320 million. Boyle, who still appears widely in behalf of the brand, has been chairman of the board since January 2020 and CEO since 1988.
But while these CEOs might own lots of their company stock, it's not an important metric to S&P 500 investors at least this year. Shares of the eight companies with the heaviest ownership are down an average of 8.6% this year, lagging the S&P 500.
CEOs Who Own Largest Chunks Of S&P 1500 Companies
Not a single S&P 500 CEO owns more than 35%
| Company | Symbol | Index | CEO - % owned | Stock YTD % ch. | CEO | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tootsie Roll Industries | S&P 600 | 63.4% | 2.6% | Gordon, Ellen | Consumer Staples | |
| TTEC Holdings | S&P 600 | 59.3 | -10.4 | Tuchman, Kenneth | Information Technology | |
| Phibro Animal Health | S&P 600 | 49.9 | -4.6 | Bendheim, Jack | Health Care | |
| Vicor | S&P 400 | 46.9 | -49.0 | Vinciarelli, Patrizio | Industrials | |
| Zynex | S&P 600 | 40.8 | -19.5 | Sandgaard, Thomas | Health Care | |
| Forrester Research | S&P 600 | 39.6 | -2.4 | Colony, George | Industrials | |
| World Wrestling Entertainment | S&P 400 | 38.6 | 22.2 | McMahon, Vincent | Communication Services | |
| Columbia Sportswear | S&P 400 | 36.5 | -7.7 | Boyle, Timothy | Consumer Discretionary |
