If the company makes bucketlots of money, the board isn't going to change the CEO, even if he would be a total arse in board meetings. I think it has to be repeated that investors want returns for their investments. Also, if the company happens to make money despite of lousy CEO, the board will highly probably keep the lousy CEO.
All these founder-centric stories makes it looks like board will fire the CEO just for fun, or just because they happen to get the idea out of the blue. Actually it is a lot of pain and work for the board to try to find a new (better) CEO and they probably realize that they will fail (statistically speaking). So, the board will fire the CEO only in a situation where they genuinely believe that average replacement from the market will do a better job running the company. They don't fire on a whim.
All these founder-centric stories makes it looks like board will fire the CEO just for fun, or just because they happen to get the idea out of the blue. Actually it is a lot of pain and work for the board to try to find a new (better) CEO and they probably realize that they will fail (statistically speaking). So, the board will fire the CEO only in a situation where they genuinely believe that average replacement from the market will do a better job running the company. They don't fire on a whim.