WHEN FOUNDERS MAKE ROOM FOR REPLACEMENTS

Josh Luber’s transition has plenty of precedent. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t always go smoothly. By Max Totsky

The Good Larry Ellison and Mark Hurd at Oracle

After a 37-year reign as CEO, Oracle founder Larry Ellison assumed the role of CTO and executive chairman in 2014, giving former president Mark Hurd the opportunity to fill his shoes. Alongside co-CEO Safra Catz, Hurd led the cloud computing giant up until his unexpected death in October 2019. In a statement, Ellison showed that their friendship flourished through the role change, calling Hurd “a brilliant and beloved leader who personally touched the lives of so many of us during his decade at Oracle.”

The Bad Martha Stewart and Sharon Patrick at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

After her infamous insider-trading scandal, founder and CEO Martha Stewart was forced to pass the baton to her COO, Sharon Patrick. Circumstances were far from optimal, and Patrick struggled to regain the trust of advertisers and customers. The company’s flagship magazine lost 54 percent of its ad revenue and 500,000 subscribers the quarter after her appointment. Once Stewart’s close friend, Patrick left the company a little over a year after assuming the CEO role, citing “personal and professional reasons.”

The Ugly John Schnatter and Steve Ritchie at Papa John’s

The original Papa John was forced to step down from his role as CEO after publicly criticizing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for taking what he considered too lax a stance against player protesters. Succeeded by former president and COO Steve Ritchie, Schnatter remained chairman of the board—that is, until he used a racist slur on a company call just six months later. Not surprisingly, the relationship between the two has since soured. In addition to filing multiple lawsuits against his former company, Schnatter had harsh words for his replacement, writing that “the source of the company’s poor performance is rot at the top.”