The news sent Shell's stock plummeting, and the company fired two top executives after an internal investigation.

Around that time, she fired three top three executives in what many people in and outside the company saw as a public hanging.

While they were at it, the board fired three other executives, including another director, Gust Perlegos, an executive vice president who is George's brother.

The board fired three executives who had overseen the fraud, and hired an outside investigator.

The recommendation to fire six executives is the first move by the committee.

Mr. Rowe fired two high-level executives and promised to spend $1.4 billion over the next three years to upgrade equipment.

Earlier this week SunTrust fired three executives over accounting for bad loans.

He also took the opportunity to announce that he had fired 7 dissident executives and forced 12 more to retire.

Ms. Fiorina called the unit's performance "clearly unacceptable," fired three top executives and vowed to get the business back on track by the fourth quarter.

Earlier this month, insurance giant American International Group fired two senior executives for refusing to cooperate with a regulatory investigation.