Rivian

regulatory filings for the social media giant, now valued around $950 billion.

Few Under 40

Thrity-eight is also the age of Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, who will stand out from the executive crowd once Rivian goes public.

Just 6% of S&P 500 CEOs were younger than 50, according to a report in 2019 by the Wall Street Journal. Only two, including Zuckerberg, were under the age of 40 at the time of the report.

The average age of a new hire for a S&P 500level CEO was nearly 59 that year, according to other industry data.

The 2019 WSJ story documenting exec team ages highlighted once local outlier as a counterpoint: Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG), which the prior year hired former Taco Bell exec Brian Niccol (then 45) as its CEO.

Niccol brought “fresh energy” to the company, Chipotle said at the time.

The move to youth (and a headquarters move from Denver to OC) served Chipotle well; the Newport Beach-based firm’s stock is up more than fivefold since Niccol’s 2018 hiring and its $52 billion valuation ranks it second among OC’s public companies.

OC Comparisons

Chipotle’s exec team now counts an average age of 53, according to the company’s latest proxy filing.

That compares to an average age of 57 at OC’s most valuable public company, Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW), and an average age of 46 at Masimo Corp. (Nasdaq: MASI), OC’s fourth-most valuable public company.

Masimo’s 56-year-old CEO, chairman and founder Joe Kiani is the Irvine company’s oldest senior executive.

Skyworks Solutions (Nasdaq: SWKS), OC’s third-most-valuable public company with a nearly $27 billion market cap, doesn’t break down the ages of all its executives. President and CEO Liam Griffin was 54 as of the company’s latest proxy filings.

As for Rivian’s main competition in the EV industry? Telsa Inc.’s three-person exec team (Nasdaq: TSLA) averaged 42 at the time of its last proxy filing; CEO Elon Musk is 50.