The average age of a Fortune 500 company CEO is 58 years, but a number of big names are shouldering this responsibility well into their golden years.
Some of these CEOs have become synonymous with the companies they have helped transform into global giants, and their performance is reflected in the strong results of their companies. This shows that while youth has certain advantages, experience does certainly matter.
While the retirement age for rank-and-file management is generally 65, few companies have a mandatory retirement policy for their CEOs.
According to the Conference Board, only 21 percent of manufacturing and financial services companies have an age-based mandatory retirement policy for CEOs, primarily to avoid the declining performance associated with older executives.
CLICK HERE for a list of the oldest CEOs of major U.S. companies.
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Business News
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.