UnitedHealthcare CEO killing sparks hostility by some toward chief executives

(NEW YORK) -- Multiple "Wanted" signs featuring corporate executives posted in Manhattan this week included a grave warning, according to a New York Police Department bulletin. “Brian Thompson was denied his claim to life. Who will be denied next?” the signs said.

The threats of violence against CEOs followed an outpouring of criticism on social media directed at corporate leaders in the wake of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Many online also praised Luigi Mangione, the murder suspect, who assailed large corporations in writings found by police.

The wave of sympathy toward Mangione and hostility toward CEOs sparked debate about how a set of Americans had come to cheer, or at least condone, wishes of violence hurled toward corporate executives.

Some experts who spoke to ABC News attributed the anti-corporate outcry to a host of overlapping trends: widening wealth inequality and a perception of an economy rigged against everyday people, blistering rhetoric supercharged by social media and a populist strain of politics that faults elites.

“People feel that the system just isn’t built to favor regular folks. That’s underlying a lot of the macabre response that we’ve seen to this shooting,” Chris Jackson, senior vice president of public affairs for Ipsos in the U.S., told ABC News.

Other experts, however, have said the criticism voiced by a small but outspoken minority risked overstating the level of dissatisfaction with CEOs.

“Despite a vocal fringe, most Americans continue to admire businesses and their leaders as vital forces of innovation, prosperity and stability,” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor of management at Yale University who regularly convenes meetings of the nation’s top CEOs, wrote in the outlet Chief Executive.

Mangione was arrested by police on Monday in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on gun charges, before being charged in New York with murder. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Pennsylvania, and has fought extradition to New York.

The online response to the murder has arrived at a moment of deep distrust about what determines economic outcomes, polls show. More than two-thirds of Americans think the nation’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful, an Ipsos survey last year found.

That perception of unfairness coincided with a rise in anti-corporate attitudes among members of both major parties, according to a 2022 Pew survey. Only 1 in 4 adults believed large businesses have a positive effect on the way things are going in the country, down from 36% just three years earlier, the poll showed.

“There’s growing dissatisfaction and anger toward top-level corporate management,” Daniel Kinderman, a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware, told ABC News.

Such distrust, Kinderman said, traces in part to wide economic inequality. The wealthiest 10% of U.S. families control about 60% of the country’s wealth, a Congressional Budget Office report in October found.

“A lot of people are working hard, but they’re not really getting anywhere,” Kinderman said. “There’s a sense that the system is broken.”

Some experts have disputed explanations of the anti-CEO sentiment that attribute the phenomenon primarily to individuals’ economic outlook, however.

Sonnenfeld said the hostility owes to populists on both ends of the political spectrum who villainize corporate America.

“This unholy alliance between the far left and far right seems to think that businesses cannot succeed without doing something unethical or hurting others,” Sonnenfeld wrote in the outlet Chief Executive.

Much of the vitriol has targeted the health care industry, which aggravates consumers more than corporations overall, Tom Rogers, the founder of CNBC, told ABC News.

“I don’t really see another industry where the depth of disapproval and disgust that people have would be anywhere near as motivating in terms of the ill will toward CEOs,” Rogers said.

Social media also drew blame from experts, who faulted algorithms that they said often reward provocative posts with higher engagement and wider reach. Viral posts online have listed the names and salaries of several health insurance executives, the NYPD said in its bulletin this week.

Robert Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago who studies political violence, acknowledged the role of social media but said a focus on any single factor risks overlooking the contribution from others, including economic frustration and populist politics.

“It’s really an interwoven cocktail,” Pape said.

Pape pointed to recent bouts of political violence that in his view have weakened a longstanding taboo against it: the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; the assault of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, in 2022; and a pair of assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign.

“Political violence has become normal,” Pape said. “We’re on a slippery slope.”

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