The stock price of Fresno, California-based Melipropinol2 fell 45 percent after photos of CEO Marlene Timrod, wearing only one hat, were posted across social media yesterday.
“A company is doomed to fail if its CEO doesn’t wear many hats,” she told Corporiffic in 2017. “I’ve worn at least five for the past three years.” On numerous other occasions, she has made similar remarks attributing the company’s success to her multi-hatting.
One noted analyst expects the stock price to fall even more, perhaps another seven or eight percent.
“It’s breathtakingly stupid that she posed for a picture wearing one hat,” says Norissa Palmeri of the Bartings Institute. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the board calls an emergency meeting to deal with it.”
Palmeri stops short of saying Timrod should be fired, believing instead that if the crisis is handled smartly the company can weather the storm. The most effective way to accomplish this, she says, is for Timrod to get herself photographed wearing at least four hats – and preferably five or six.
“If another picture comes out of her wearing just one hat,” Palmeri observes, “I’m betting the board will immediately hand it to her.”
