21% of Middle East’s Biggest Firms Changed CEO in 2015

The Middle East has one of the highest chief executive officer succession rates in the world, after 21 per cent of the region’s biggest firms were found to have changed CEO in 2015, according to a new study. The research showed that more than one fifth of the 62 largest Middle East-based corporations replaced their CEO, exceeding the global average of 17 per cent. The region’s highest transition rate was in Saudi Arabia, were 38.5 per cent of companies installed a new CEO in 2015. The majority of Middle Eastern CEO replacements came from outside the company – 84 per cent – up from an average of 58 per cent over the past four years, and 33 per cent in the four years before that.