Pastimes
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The worst CEO of 1997... Vote Here!
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| An SI Board Since November 1997 |
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Seeing the year come to a close, I think its a good time to give an award to the CEO who personally caused the most damage to his/her company's stock. We're not talking shifts in product demand or cyclical downtrends.. we're talking about pure idiotic management decisions which through greed or ignorance caused their particular stock to crumble.
I have assembled a dubious list of nominees, although I'm sure there are more. Please feel free to vote or comment or add CEO's, Chairmen, etc.
The initial nominees for the worst CEO of 1997 are:
Robert Rubin, American United Global (NASDAQ: AUGI). Mr. Rubin thought that the O-ring business was boring and Wall Street was giving him no respect... So he thinks to himself, 'man, technology sure is hot, especially internet... I think I'll buy some internet companies and watch my stock take off!'... This happened even though he didn't know sh*t about tech, but thought he'd give it a try anyways. It sure started out great, causing his stock to explode to around $13 from around $3. Well the sleaze started to come out, an internal web of intertwined companies publically traded that included a stock 'touting' Damon Testeverde Group touting his own companies shares, defaulted loans to his other companies, etc. hurt the stock. Then we find that the companies he bought were LOSERS (Connectsoft, Exodus, etc.)! He was suckered because he didn't know sh*t about technology! O-Rings to internet?!?! Construction equipment WPEC to internet?!?! Needless to say the stock now is around $2, and the sleaze of Mr. Rubin is finally being exposed to the street.
Gary Siegler, Medical Resources (NASDAQ: MRII). Well, he isn't a CEO, but since he's the chairman and they haven't had a CEO until recently, he gets the nod. This man single handedly destroyed the value of his stock, but the funny thing is, he and his 'entities' own a majority stake in MRII <ha! ha! ha!>... Siegler also runs a $600 million hedge fund. He pocketed advisory fees for his own companies aquisition, used company money to buy a corporate jet, etc. The value of his stock has plummetted, reflecting the perceived value his intelligence brings to the company (ie. 0!) To gain a few million in fees, he has exposed himself and the company to several lawsuits and market cap losses in the 10s of millions. I-D-I-O-T!
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