Barrick Gold CEO on Gold

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s biggest gold producer, named former Falconbridge Ltd. executive Aaron Regent as its new chief executive officer, ending a nine- month search to replace Greg Wilkins.

“Gold has been a safe haven and a store of value, and when you’re in turbulent times, gold should perform well,” Regent said today in a telephone interview. As Barrick CEO “I must believe in gold or it would be a curious move.” He declined to give a specific price target for the metal.

Regent was formerly chief financial officer of copper producer Noranda Inc. before it merged with Falconbridge in 2005. Brookfield, the largest shareholder in Noranda, maintained a 20 percent stake in Falconbridge after that transaction.

Barrick Gold stocks are down 19% in the last 12 months.

Duke Energy CEO on the Global Elite

Newsweek has included Duke Energy Corp. Chief Executive Jim Rogers to its list of The Global Elite: The 50 Most Powerful People.

The list appears in the magazine’s Jan. 5 edition.

According to Newsweek , Rogers has the power to make “dreams of renewable power a reality.”

The magazine says Duke (NYSE:DUK) “is not the world’s greenest utility, and CEO Jim Rogers is no green saint.” But it notes Rogers has called for mandatory greenhouse-gas reductions from power plants and other sources.

He also advocates a cap-and-trade system and supports a surcharge on electricity to fund research and development on low-carbon technologies. Newsweek cites Duke’s $50 million investment to install 10 megawatts of solar panels on customers’ rooftops and its wind-power operations.

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Greenberg criticizes new AIG CEO

Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the former chief executive officer of American International Group Inc., said new CEO Edward Liddy’s experience running Allstate Corp. “hardly equips” him to run AIG.

Managing Allstate, which specializes in home and auto coverage in the U.S. “is not the same,” as AIG, which operates in more than 100 countries, Greenberg said in an on-air interview on CNBC today. “I’ve known Liddy for many years,” Greenberg said. “In fact, he tried to peddle Allstate to me at some point.”

Liddy was appointed in September by the U.S. to run New York-based AIG after the company needed a federal rescue to stave off bankruptcy. He is the third CEO at the firm since Greenberg was forced out in 2005.

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Ballmer wants Yahoo Search Engine

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wants his company to make a deal to acquire Yahoo`s search engine unit "sooner than later," according to the WSJ.

"I think that good ideas are usually better done quickly than slowly, so it would probably be better for both of us, and certainly for Yahoo, if we were to do it sooner than later," Ballmer told the paper.

Ballmer has said repeatedly in recent weeks that Microsoft is no longer interested in acquiring all of Yahoo, but that the company is open to a narrower deal. Adding Yahoo's search operations to its MSN and Live Search network could help Microsoft close the gap with industry leader Google in the lucrative Internet search market.

Microsoft stock is down 42% in the last year, comparing to a 52% decline in Yahoo. Ca n this news boost Yahoo stock to higher ground?

Toll Brothers CEO: Obviously there are enormous challenges in our industry

Toll Brothers reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $78.8 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with a loss of $81.8 million, or 52 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Robert Toll, CEO said "numerous uncertainties related to sales paces, sales prices, mortgage markets, cancellations, market direction and the potential for and size of future impairments."

"Obviously there are enormous challenges in our industry,"

"The most frustrating aspect of [fiscal] 2008 was that the longer it went, the worse it got -- this, no doubt, was due largely to the financial crisis which deepened over the course of the year," the CEO added.

"On the national level, new single-family housing starts have sunk to the lowest level since October 1981."

Toll Brothers lost only 2% in the last year despite all this credit crisis.

Mittal CEO doesn`t expect to cut production

“If the demand will start improving in the first quarter or the second quarter, we will increase production volumes,” Mittal said today in an interview in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

“We cut output by 35 percent, and it was very aggressive for us.”

ArcelorMittal stock has been punished in the last few months, in a period where commodity stocks plummeted. the stock declined 70 percent this year.

“Inventory levels are very low in the system,” Mittal said after a meeting between government officials and overseas investors in Kazakhstan. “I don’t think there will be an additional production cut.”

CEO of BJ's Wholesale Video Interview

VIDEO INTERVIEW LINK

Herbert Zarkin, CEO of BJ's Wholesale, discusses which items are selling this holiday season.

BJ stock is up 16% in the last year. Fantastic performance from this retail company.

AutoNation CEO says business is in standstill

AutoNation Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mike Jackson said business at car dealerships has declined “practically to a standstill” because customers are unable to get loans.

“We have traffic and demand in our showrooms” for higher sales, Jackson said in an interview on Bloomberg Radio. “The credit is simply not there from the financial institutions to finance those customers: they’re turning away very good customers.”

AutoNation (AN) stock is down 42% in the last year. But being in one of the most affected sectors of the economy the stock is not doing as bad as others. But, as almost cut in half...

Dow Chemical CEO on Credit Crisis

VIDEO INTERVIEW
The chemical company expands its share of the global chemicals market, with Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical president, chairman/CEO

Dow Chemical stock is down 55% over the last year.

The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) is a diversified chemical company that offers a range of chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services.

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Richard Adkerson, Freeport McMoran president/CEO

VIDEO INTERVIEW

View this video interview with Richard Adkerson, Freeport McMoran president/CEO where he explains the cut in production due to weaker market conditions.

Freeport McMoran stock is down 81% in the last year. Is it a BUY?

Miller tries to Buy Yahoo

Former AOL Chief Executive Jonathan Miller is trying to raise money to purchase a portion or all of Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition Tuesday. He has been talking to private equity investors and sovereign wealth funds for several months to secure funds, according to the Journal. Miller believes he can finalize a deal that would be worth around $20 to $22 a share, which would involve raising about $28 billion to $30 billion to buy the whole company, the Journal reported.

Yahoo is performing badly, and is down 56% in the last year. Things are bad everywhere and Yahoo is no exception. But there is a lot of outside interest in the company.

CEO of the Year

Wall St. will name its annual CEO of the Year next week. The executive will be picked from a field of ten which we will profile this week

The CEOs are chosen on the basis of their company’s stock market and financial performances compared with their own industry groups and all large companies traded on US markets. Only firms with market caps of more than $5 billion were considered.

Steve Jobs of Apple (AAPL) has to be on any "best CEO", "best executive", or "best anything" list. He deserves it. Apple may be the most perfectly run large company in the world. Its product development really has no equal in the world of public firms. The iPod was followed by a new generation of Macs, which was followed by the remarkably successful iPhone.

CEO Talk

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