Record-breaking CEO churn in 2005.

CEO departures at the largest 1000 companies reached record levels according to global communications consultancy Burson-Marsteller’s 2005 CEO Succession Tracking Survey. Since 2000, nearly one-half (470) of Fortune 1000 companies have a new CEO sitting in the corner office.

Other findings include:

CEO departures increased 126 percent since 2000 (129 CEO departures in 2005 versus 57 in 2000).

CEO departures increased 32 percent year over year (129 CEO departures in 2005 versus 98 in 2004).

The number of new outsider CEOs increased 67 percent since 2004 (43 percent outsider CEOs in 2005, up from 34 percent in 2004). An influx of outsider CEOs may signal a significant shift in the business landscape.

“Boards demanded peak performance from CEOs in 2005,” said Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, Burson-Marsteller’s Chief Knowledge & Research Officer Worldwide and CEO reputation expert. “If the rise in CEO departure continues at this rate, companies will have CEOs departing every hour of the work week by 2015.”

As noted in previous tracking of departing CEOs, there are tangible and intangible costs to high CEO turnover that are often overlooked — costly severance packages, declines in brand reputation and employee productivity, customer concerns, and uncertainty in the financial markets. In addition, a company can experience difficulty recruiting and retaining employees who may have concerns about future changes.

Shortened CEO Transition Period

In spite of the rapidly revolving CEO door, the time between the first public announcement of a new CEO to their first day in office has remained at one month since 2000.

The only significant change was in 2004 when a few exceptionally long transition periods occurred, driving the average transition period over two months. Extended CEO transition periods included CEO James Dimon of JPMorgan Chase (716 days), CEO Donald Felsinger of Sempra Energy (570 days) and CEO Janet Robinson of The New York Times Company (317 days).