A version of this article originally appeared in Quartz’s Leadership newsletter. Sign up here to get the latest leadership news and insights straight to your inbox.
Having two co-chief executive officers is a little bit like an arranged marriage. Trust is necessary to make a partnership work. Consistent consideration for one another and the ability to communicate effectively generate that trust.
But just as wonderful parents may sometimes experience hardship with one of their kids, a great partnership doesn’t guarantee great business outcomes.
Co-CEO setups are on our minds lately following recent announcements from some big companies:
- Oracle named Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia as co-CEOs, replacing Safra Catz, who is transitioning to vice chair of the board.
- Spotify said it will be led by Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, with company founder Daniel Ek moving into the role of executive chairman.
- Comcast is appointing Michael Cavanagh as co-CEO starting next year, along with current chairman and CEO Brian Roberts.
There’s evidence that co-CEO arrangements can deliver better financial outcomes, according to an oft-cited 2022 study by Harvard Business Review. The study showed that co-CEO structures at public companies generated an average annual shareholder return of 9.5%, compared to an average return of 6.9% for other companies in their relevant indexes. There are several contributing factors to whether a dual-leadership structure succeeds or fails, and no one is making, or has made, the claim that two CEOs are automatically better than one.
Relationship quality between co-CEOs is a clear factor, as academics and business leaders say that trust, role clarity, aligned incentives, and having agreed-upon dispute-mechanisms are all critical to outcomes. If those factors aren’t present, co-leadership often fails.
But relationship quality, or good chemistry, is also not a magic bullet.
Netflix famously has made the model work, as has investment firm KKR. It’s been such a positive experience at global architectural and design firm Gensler that co-CEOs Jordan Goldstein and Elizabeth Brink have implemented a co-leadership structure throughout the entire company. There are co-regional leads throughout the firm’s global footprint.
“As co-CEOs, we’ve really taken the time to develop trust and alignment around shared values and goals,” Goldstein and Brink told me in a statement — a joint statement, of course. “This is the foundation of our collaborative leadership. We each take the lead in different areas, and that clarity helps us move quickly and stay focused. We stay aligned by checking in multiple times a day. We don’t need to be involved in every decision the other makes but operate with a ‘one-voice’ philosophy. When something that was originally a smaller decision expands, we keep each other in the loop. The communication is constant, as is the trust-building.”
As with any relationship or leadership structure, it can go any number of ways.
“Co-CEO structures are either a masterclass in complementary leadership, or a fast track to gridlock,” said Dan Auerback, a CEO coach. “I’ve coached both, and the difference comes down to role clarity and ego management.”
Co-CEOs succeed, Auerback said, when they:
- Define lanes clearly so the organization knows who leads on what.
- Work in natural pairings. The best co-CEO setups often split along clear business seams like revenue versus cost, strategy versus operations, or creative versus commercial. These complementary domains reduce overlap and sharpen accountability, Auerback said.
- Maintain strong communication discipline. Recurring alignment rituals (weekly check-ins, structured decision reviews) prevent drift and keep the model from becoming chaotic.
- Commit to unity in public while resolving disputes in private.
- Check their egos. “The model collapses if personal rivalry seeps into the culture,” Auerback said.
“Without those disciplines, you get drift, mixed signals, and power struggles,” he said. “With them, you can scale leadership breadth in ways a single CEO cannot.”
Co-CEO structures are still pretty rare, and that hasn’t changed much in recent years. According to executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, the Fortune 1000 had only 15 companies with co-CEOs in place in 2022. There were 14 in 2023, 12 in 2024, and there are 14 in 2025. If the status quo is maintained through the end of the year, there will again be 15 Fortune 1000 companies with co-CEOs in January, once the Comcast transition takes effect.
“As both an HR consultant and analyst in the HR technology space, I’ve seen the co-CEO model generate a lot of interest — and a fair share of challenges,” said Joey Price, the CEO of Jumpstart HR and author of The Power of HR: How to Make an Organizational Impact as a People-Professional. “The question isn’t whether two leaders can share a title, but whether the organization has the right culture, governance, and clarity to make it work.”
Times of transition present some of the best opportunities for the co-CEO structure, Price said.
“The co-CEO model can work best as a transitional strategy (succession planning, scaling into new markets, or during M&A) rather than a permanent solution,” Price said. “The leadership structure should always be in service of clarity, culture, and execution — not simply a compromise at the top.”
📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief
Read More
Matthew Fray