Management: private firms' CEOs skimp on succession.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: BusinessBRIEFS

Most CEOs of America's fastest-growing private companies say they are likely to step down within the next 10 years, but almost half have put little to no thought into succession planning, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study.

Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of surveyed CEOs plan to move on within a decade or less: 42 percent within five years, and 23 percent in five to ten years. And their exit plans? Most (51 percent) anticipate a sale to another company. Other plans include: sale or transition to next generation family members (18 percent), a management buyout (14 percent) and an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) (7 percent). A smaller number cited an initial public offering (IPO) or other options.

But, despite these intentions:

* Only 22 percent have done a great deal of succession planning, and another 26 percent have done some. But 24 percent have done little, and 19 percent, virtually none. Nine percent did not report.

* Only 39 percent of CEOs have a likely successor in mind, but less than two-thirds of them say that person is ready to take control today. Nearly half (45 percent) have not identified a successor, and 16 percent did not report. Most exit plans involving family members (79 percent) and do designate a primary successor, as do 51 percent of plans anticipating a management buyout and 48 percent of those planning an ESOP. However, only 29 percent of those...