Steve Jobs, co-founder, Apple: After power struggle with board
Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs was fired from the very company he founded. The legendary late Apple CEO started Apple in 1976 when he was just 21. He was publicly outsted some nine years later after a power struggle with then CEO John Sculley, whom Jobs hired from Pepsi. The Apple Board side with Sculley and removed Jobs. "I was out -- and very publicly out," Jobs recalled during his famous commencement speech at Stanford University. He added, "What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating."
Phaneesh Murthy as CEO iGate: Over sexual harrasment charges
IT company iGate sacked president and CEO Phaneesh Murthy for "violating" company policy by failing to report a "relationship" with a fellow employee in the year 2013. The employee Araceli Roiz claimed of sexual harassment. An investigation by outside legal counsel found Murthy guilty. In a statement the company's board from its headquarters at Fremont, California, said that the employee had also filed a complaint alleging "sexual harassment". Murthy also had faced a similar charge at Infosys.
Mark Hurd, CEO, HP: Sexual harassment charges
HP CEO Mark Hurd was asked to step down in August 2010 after sexual harassment charges were made against him by an outside contractor Jodie Fisher. Hurd's sudden departure cost HP billions of dollars in lost stock value. The company also had to face multiple lawsuits as Hurd had successfully steered HP's turnaround after the departure of Carly Fiorina. An internal HP inquire, however, cleared Hurd of harassment but it found him guilty of filing inaccurate expense reports.
Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani, Wipro: On alleged 'performance grounds'
In January 2011, Wipro's joint CEOs Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani resigned, making way for TK Kurien as the CEO of the company's IT business. The duo are said to have resigned after the company failed to meet analysts estimates in third quarter of FY2010-11. Wipro chairman Azim Premji had promoted Paranjpe and Vaswani less than three years ago to lead Wipro through the global financial crisis. Though Wipro claimed that the duo left the organisation citing personal reasons, there were not many who believed it as just few days before the resignations Premji had publicly expressed his displeasure over the company's performance in the IT services vertical.
Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai, Marvell Technology: Work culture and other management issues
Chipmaker Marvell Technology Group's CEO and president, a husband-wife duo who co-founded the company, were dismissed in April 2016. The two were asked to go after an audit-committee probe reportedly found that the management had put significant pressure on sales teams to meet targets. The committee also raised questions about a patent that Sutardja had initially claimed as his. He, however, later passed it onto the company.
Carol Bartz, CEO, Yahoo: On 'performance grounds'
Yahoo Inc chairman Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz in September 2011. Bartz was reportedly given the order on phone. The exit ended a tumultuous tenure marked by stagnation and a rift with Chinese partner Alibaba. Bartz said in a two-sentence email to employees, "I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward."