Ceo Facts

In 2006, the CEO of Whole Foods reduced his salary to $1 a year, donated his entire portfolio to charity, and set up a $100,000 fund for staff facing personal problems.

As a reward for record profits, the CEO of Lenovo, Yang Yuanqing, received a $3 million bonus, which he redistributed to about 10,000 of Lenovo's employees. He did the same again in 2013.

FedEx was days from collapse. $5,000 left in the bank. Founder Fred Smith flew to Las Vegas and bet it all at blackjack. By morning he had $32,000. Just enough to keep the planes flying one more week. In that week, he closed an $11 million deal. FedEx now makes over $90 billion a year.

Some tech CEOs intentionally use the same outfit every day—like Steve Jobs’ black turtleneck—not out of laziness, but to minimize decision fatigue and boost creativity.

25,000 grocery workers walked off the job to save the CEO their board had just fired. No union. No pay. No budging. Market Basket's board sacked Arthur T. Demoulas for paying workers too well. 71 stores emptied. Sales crashed 95% in six weeks. Customers drove past Market Basket to shop at competitors. The board folded and Arthur T. bought the company back for $1.5 billion.