CALGARY – This can be a spooky time to be a public company, given the volatility in the markets these days.
So when the swirling vortex of rumors begin – about anything – it’s hard to stop it. Just a bit of bad news can turn into many guesses and innuendo for some companies.
So it seems with Shaw Communications, anyway. Last week, company president Peter Bissonnette, 61, suffered what the company is calling “a mild heart attack,” has had a stent put in and is now resting at home.
People in the industry are putting that together with CEO Jim Shaw’s health issue this spring and wondering about the leadership of the massive TV distributor/ISP/telecom firm and if change is in the offing.
Some folks in the industry have told us that they see company founder JR Shaw returning to the CEO’s chair, or that Brad Shaw, Jim’s younger brother and head of Shaw Cable, will soon be CEO.
None of that stuff is happening, Jim Shaw told Cartt.ca on Wednesday afternoon. “I’m fine. I’m working away,” he said. “Anything (Peter) was working on specifically we’re sharing it around the rest of our top team… Peter and I share duties here at Shaw and between him and my brother and myself and the rest of the senior team… it’s business as usual.”
As for his own hospital stay in April, “I had to get something repaired,” the CEO said. “It was a parts job.”
But what about the JR-to-return rumor? “My dad is 75 and has no interest in operating the company and pulling a Ted Rogers,” added Jim of the Rogers Communications founder who is also still its CEO.
And the current Shaw CEO, who is 51, has no plans to give up the top job, despite the stress it admittedly brings. “Everything adds up, especially the level of stress with these jobs,” he said. “There’s no doubt that execs up at this level take a pretty heavy beating. It isn’t an easy job here.”
But what about succession at Shaw? “I’m not going to quit soon,” Shaw added. “It’s steady as it goes. Our team is not that old anyway. When I look around the Rogers execs, now there are some old guys…
“We’ve got a really nice smattering of guys and gals around here to keep going and there are no issues that come to mind,” added Shaw.
Finally, when it comes to the fickle, unpredictable markets of the fall of 2008, CEO Shaw says the company bearing his family’s name is just fine. “We’re not worried about it from a company point of view because Shaw is so well financed – Rogers too for that matter.”
But, “I think (the markets) are over freaked-out about everything.”
