Mercury CEO Joseph steps down

George Joseph is 84, after all, so it's not that big a shock. But the announcement was buried in the middle of a third-quarter earnings report, with no explanation. Joseph, who stays on as chairman, will be succeeded as CEO by Gabriel Tirador, who is president and COO. Only when an analyst brought up the subject on a conference call did Joseph elaborate. "Would you like to see me here at 95 doddering around?" he asked. "There is a time when it's time for the CEO to pass the baton along."

Joseph is on the Forbes 400, with an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion. He was very active in the opposition of Proposition 103, which required insurance carriers to roll back rates 20 percent. Mercury has been his baby - he started the company in 1962, mainly for folks who were having getting auto insurance. His retirement announcement came on a day when L.A.-based Mercury reported a drop in earnings per share to $1.25 from $1.33 a year earlier. That beat Wall Street's estimate of $1.13 and might explain why the stock gained 7.32 percent today, to close at $55.14. That's approaching its 52-week high.