Synopsys

Synopsys is led by long-tenured, highly experienced executives. Founder Aart de Geus stepped down as CEO but remains influential as Chairman. The new CEO, Sassine Ghazi (an insider since 1998, former COO/President), was CFO for many years and has a solid track record in the business.

This continuity of leadership and deep company knowledge is a strength. The rest of the C-suite are industry veterans with decades of tenure. The team correctly navigated cyclical tech markets and executed complex M&A (notably the scaled-up Ansys merger).

One metric of alignment: insider equity is modest, but management compensation is tied to long-term metrics, and they have resisted overpaying for deals. Overall, there is no red flag of shareholder-misalignment – if anything the founder’s guidance and the recent divestiture of non-core assets show discipline.