Who are your top picks for the biggest asshats that ever ran an American business?

God there are so many.

Let’s start with Jack Welch and Jeffrey Skilling.

Ray Kroc comes to mind.

Jochen Zeitz, Chairman, President and CEO
Harley-Davidson, Inc.

Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.

Richard Scrushy - CEO of Healthsouth - now known as Encompass

Roger Smith. I blame him for the downhill slide that led to GM’s bankruptcy. The killing of the Oldsmobile line and the creation of Saturn. The costs alone to close down Oldsmobile and the Saturn startup were astronomical, money would have been better spent to reconfigure Oldsmobile.

Close second is Mary Barra. Her legacy is the amount of product that now comes from Asia. Buick was “saved” (term used loosely) because Buick was considered more of a prestigious brand than Cadillac in China, a market that GM sorely wanted to enter.

Today, Buick has been taken over by products from China and South Korea with the Tri-shield added. Only one Buick today is built in North America, the Enclave.

Bernie Madoff rates right up there.

Rick Scott when he was CEO of HCA. Somehow he wiggled out of that mess and is seen as respectable in Florida.

Scott was pressured to resign as chief executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997. During his tenure as chief executive, the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs. The U.S. Department of Justice won 14 felony convictions against the company, which was fined $1.7 billion in what was at the time the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history.[8][9] Following his departure from Columbia/HCA, Scott became a venture capitalist and pursued other business interests.

LINK:s://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott#:~:text=During%20his%20tenure%20as%20chief,fraud%20settlemen

So are we judging them personally or professionally?

I would say "unsavory" is personally, and that often dictates poor outcome professionally.

But, not wanting to speak for the OP.



m400, can you clarify for the class?

Carl Icahn.

quote:

Originally posted by clang:

Let’s start with Jack Welch and Jeffrey Skilling.

100% agree with these, especially Welch who ran a great company into the ground.

also add that gal who lowered her voice when she talked to sound more mature, and wore Steve Jobs turtlenecks to look like him.... Elizabeth Holmes.

Congress is a business. It's full of pimps and whores who care nothing for, or, about America. They're in it for the bucks.

My vote is for the people who run the business of Congress. I.e., Congressmen.

Dick Fuld- Lehman Brothers
Ken Lay- Enron
Stockton Rush- Oceangate

I'm going with Asshat referring to personal qualities and not business or professional success. Guys (and girls) who have fought their way to the top are often not very nice people personally. In this regard, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs and DJT come to mind.

Sam Bankman-Fried

I didn’t put much thought into the wording. But I'm gonna go with professional. Let’s call it professional asshats! Rockefeller, Carnegie etc.

American business is based on an approximate capitalist system. A free market principle is that it is good and just when individuals act in their own self-interests apart from defrauding anyone.

If you defrauded people, then, by definition, you're an asshat. But if in playing the game according to the rules, you stepped on people's toes, that's just being good at the game. Hate the game, don't hate the playa.

I agree, stepping on toes is part of the gig.