‘I think the board panicked’
CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday questioned the merits of the leadership shakeup at railroad operator CSX , amid speculation that further industry consolidation could be on the way. Joe Hinrichs is out as chief executive of CSX after three years on the job, the company announced Monday. His replacement is 70-year-old Steve Angel, who ran industrial gas giant Linde for just over three years following its merger with Praxair in 2018. Angel had steered Praxair for more than a decade before the megadeal was completed. “I don’t like this. I think it’s an injustice,” Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street.” Hinrichs was “doing a fantastic job,” Cramer said. He added later, “I think the board panicked and said, ‘Listen, how come we can’t get a deal going?'” During Hinrichs’ tenure that began on Sept. 26, 2022, CSX shares rose 28.3% on a total return basis, which includes dividends, according to FactSet data. Over the same stretch, railroad peer Canadian Pacific Kansas City returned 10.3%; Union Pacific returned 23.6%, while Norfolk Southern advanced 46.4%. To be sure, Cramer on Monday said he had a ton of respect for CSX’s new CEO Angel, who is still chairman of Linde’s board. Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio used by the CNBC Investing Club, owns a stake in Linde, whose industrial gases are used in a range of industries from electronics to beverages. “I love Steve,” he said. Rather, Cramer’s ire was focused more on the decision-making of CSX’s board. CSX declined to comment on Cramer’s remarks. Union Pacific announced a $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern in late July, in a deal that, if approved by regulators, would create the nation’s first coast-to-coast operator of freight railway. That sparked a wave of chatter that additional tie-ups in the industry could occur — and, accordingly, put the spotlight on CSX and Berkshire Hathaway ‘s BNSF, which are both headquartered in the U.S., and CPKC, which is based in Alberta, Canada. Activist investor Ancora in mid-August urged CSX to pursue a deal or replace Hinrichs, Reuters reported at the time . However, on Aug. 25, Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett told CNBC that he wasn’t interested in BNSF outright buying another railroad and instead favored more cooperation among the operators to deliver efficiency gains. A few days before Buffett’s comments, BNSF and CSX unveiled a coast-to-coast service partnership . CSX’s lines are concentrated on the East Coast and parts of the Midwest, while BNSF’s footprint is primarily west of the Mississippi River. In a statement posted to CPKC’s website dated Aug. 26, the company said it is “not interested in participating in immediate rail industry consolidation, despite the suggestions by some that it take part. CPKC does not believe that further rail consolidation is necessary for the industry as currently structured.” CPKC is known for operating the first single-line rail network that links Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. Appearing on Cramer’s “Mad Money” on Aug. 27 , Hinrichs said he believed rail operators could improve the bottleneck of interchanges — where freight from one operator is handed off to a different carrier — without merging. It can take between 18 hours and 24 hours, and perhaps even longer, to complete the interchange process, CSX’s then-CEO told Cramer. “Customers are saying, ‘Hey, we don’t need this anymore. We want a seamless experience.’ You don’t need to merge to do that. It’s an option. If somebody were to want to talk to us about that, we obviously consider that,” Hinrichs said. In the same interview with Cramer, Hinrichs confirmed that he had recently met with Buffett, but said Berkshire never made an offer to buy CSX. “But they made it clear they want to work together to solve these problems and create growth opportunities for all of us. That’s the important point.” Reflecting Monday on that August interview with Hinrichs, Cramer argued the problem for CSX is that no one could buy the company if not BNSF. BNSF did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
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