As the year is coming to a close, the corporate world also had its own share of shocks and surprises. The year witnessed several high profile departures by the CEOs of many global companies. Some of them called it a day on health grounds, some others had to bow out due to scandals and some others were fired over their "non performance".

Here is the Forbes' list of high profile CEOs who relinquished office in 2011.

Sothebys to Auction Apple Inc.s Founding Contract from 1976
New-York based auction house, Sotheby's, is all set for a historic sale featuring contract papers that helped establish Steve Jobs' Apple register as a corporate body, back in 1976. Reuters
MF Global CEO Jon Corzine
The former New Jersey governor and former head of Goldman Sachs, Jon Corzine, resigned as the CEO of MF Global on November 4, 2011 Reuters
Olympus CEO Michael Woodford
The giant Japanese camera maker ousted its British CEO in October, 2011 after Woodford questioned takeover costs that amounted to billions. Reuters
Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Eric Schmidt resigned from Google. Reuters
Lo Apotheker, Hewlett-Packard
In Apotheker's 11 months on the job, he struck a number of deals which were criticised by analysts and HP's stock lost 47 percent of its value. Reuters
Bartz
Carol Bartz announced she had breast cancer in 1992, when she was elected CEO of Autodesk. Then she was elected CEO OF Yahoo in 2006. Reuters
Sam Palmisano, IBM
Mr. Palmisano announced that he is stepping aside as CEO on October 25th, 2011. Reuters
Thomas Glocer, Thomson Reuters
Thomas Glocer, the former CEO of Reuters, announced on Dec. 1 that he would step down, amid reports that the Thomson family urged him to go. Reuters
Gerard Arpey, American Airlines
Arpey repeatedly spoke out against the carrier's decision to file for bankruptcy. He exited in November with no severance package and almost worthless stock holdings. Press Association