Only one Big Pharma chief made Barron's list of the world's 30 best chief executives: Abbott Laboratories' Miles White (photo).
White returned to the list this year because Abbott is so well diversified, it's "the envy of the drug industry," Barron's reports (as quoted by CNBC's Mike Huckman). Given that drugmakers are scrambling over each other in their eagerness to grow into emerging markets, generics, diagnostics, eye care, vaccines, branded generics, and more, it's no wonder.
White is "carrying out just the kind of strategy that's needed in today's drug industry," Barron's notes. "Diversification is increasingly prized--and Abbott has loads of it."
Maybe that's why White perennially ranks near the top of our executive compensation rankings. This year, his pay dropped by 7 percent, but his $26.2 million came in second place only to Bill Weldon, CEO of that other super-diversified giant, Johnson & Johnson. Hint to other Big Pharma execs: Keep diversifying and you might not only make the Barron's list next year, but get a raise, too.
- see Huckman's piece at CNBC