The Worst CEOs of All Time — Who Are the Most Hated CEOs?

The most hated CEOs

Jorge Titinger, founder and CEO of Titinger Consulting, has seen firsthand how leadership decisions — both good and bad — can have a profound impact on organizations and an executive’s reputation. “Some of the most infamous CEOs offer cautionary tales that aspiring leaders should study closely, not just for what they did wrong, but for what they failed to recognize in themselves,” Titinger noted.

With that in mind, here’s a look at 10 once-revered CEOs who enjoyed immense popularity and success — until they didn’t. See how they fell off their pedestals and which ones survived the rough landings.

1. Larry Page

From Google Ads to Google Wallet, Google’s services have become indispensable to businesses and consumers. Google and its parent company, Alphabet, are determined to move beyond search engines and extend their reach into nearly every aspect of daily life. There’s no doubt that Larry Page — who co-founded Google, served as its CEO for years, and led Alphabet until 2019 — deserves much of the credit. But at what cost?

Although Google is often praised as one of the most employee-friendly companies in the industry, it’s hard to fight your own nature. Those who worked closely with Page have described him as withdrawn, sometimes to the point of rudeness. During important meetings, he was reportedly disengaged and unresponsive. Some described him as “kind of a jerk” and, more bluntly, “an egomaniacal asshole.”

While Page was respected among his subordinates, many felt he preferred as little human contact as possible. Today, he remains on Alphabet’s board of directors and is a member of its executive committee, suggesting he still retains a fair amount of influence, even if his personality isn’t quite as lighthearted as a Google Doodle.

2. Lloyd Blankfein

When it comes to being respected and popular with the “troops,” for a long time, it was hard to beat Lloyd Blankfein, who’s been the senior chairman at Goldman Sachs since 2019 and previously served as CEO, COO and president. At one point in his tenure, he had a 97 percent approval rating, which says something about his leadership style.

How can a man so beloved by his underlings have a dark side? Consider the following: 

• 2010: In 2010, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially charged Goldman Sachs with fraud in the structuring and marketing of collateralized debt obligations tied to subprime mortgages. With Blankfein at the helm, the company allegedly profited illegally from the recession. Yet, when Congress officially interviewed the executive about his company’s actions, Blankfein claimed (under oath) that his company had never intentionally shorted mortgage-backed securities to increase profits.
• 2011: The following year, a United States Senate panel announced that Blankfein and Goldman Sachs had misled both Congress and its clients. Sen. Carl Levin even called for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the SEC to investigate the company for possible charges, including perjury claims against Blankfein. Ultimately, no charges were ever filed, but there’s no doubt Blankfein’s shiny veneer was cracked.
• 2012: Blankfein’s reputation took another hit when a departing executive criticized him publicly in a 2012 op-ed piece in The New York Times.
• 2022: In the spring of 2022, Goldman Sachs reached a $79.5 million settlement with shareholders over claims of poor oversight tied to the controversial 1Malaysia Development Berhad wealth fund, which was involved in a money-laundering scandal. Shareholders specifically named Blankfein in the complaint, which was related to the DOJ’s 2020 foreign bribery charges against Goldman Sachs and the company’s $2.9 billion settlement.

Blankfein has weathered several other scandals during his tenure, which raises the question of whether his image can ever be entirely tarnished.

3. Carly Fiorina

Improving employee engagement is crucial in business because unhappy workers are typically less productive. And where there’s a disgruntled employee, you can bet there’s a lousy boss not far off. Such was the case with Carly Fiorina. 

Fiorina was brought on as CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 1999, becoming the first female head of a Fortune 100 company in the process. For a while, it seemed she would be a good fit. In reality, her tenure was plagued with problems from day one, and they only seemed to accumulate as time went on. Consider the following: 

• Foreign controversy: She exploited loopholes in export sanctions by using foreign subsidiaries to sell millions of dollars’ worth of computer equipment to Iran — a controversy that came back to haunt her during her bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
• Domestic struggles: Back on the home front, Fiorina’s leadership was landing her own company in some serious hot water. Approximately 30,000 workers lost their jobs, and around 80,000 others agreed to either accept pay cuts or forfeit accrued vacation time — many of whom were later laid off anyway.
• Murky ethics: Fiorina also came under fire for increasing her salary threefold and purchasing a private jet while her employees languished in near-poverty. [Read related article: How Keeping Employees Happy Benefits Business]

Still, her stint as HP’s CEO wasn’t a total failure: When she was forced to resign in 2005, the company’s stock jumped 6.9 percent. It seems that getting fired was the best thing Fiorina could have done for HP. As for her career, well, that’s been considerably damaged due in part to her failed attempts to move into politics.

4. Mark Zuckerberg

“You can be unethical and still be legal; that’s the way I live my life.”

This eyebrow-raising statement is allegedly a remark made by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, according to a former Harvard classmate. While its authenticity hasn’t been proven, it might give you a glimpse into how the founder of the world’s most popular social media site views the concept of morality.

Now, it’s no secret that Zuckerberg has a dark side. After all, Aaron Sorkin made a movie, The Social Network, based on the premise that Zuckerberg straight-up stole the idea of Facebook from several of his friends. But business is often a dog-eat-dog world, right? Maybe, but some serious allegations regarding Zuckerberg’s behavior have emerged over the years:

• The CEO has been accused of using Facebook login credentials to access and read private emails. 
• On at least one occasion, he allegedly hacked a rival social network site to vandalize social profiles and make it difficult for users to locate one another. 
• He has been sued multiple times, criticized for his filings, and, in recent years, served with subpoenas related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
• He was widely criticized for allowing misinformation to run rampant on Facebook during the 2016 and 2020 elections. 
• In 2021, he was even asked to testify about Facebook’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
• In 2025, Meta ended its fact‑checking program in the U.S., sparking criticism over a surge in misinformation. The company also faced backlash for a deepfake ad featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and public allegations — such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman’s claim — that Zuckerberg offered $100 million or more in compensation to recruit AI researchers.

Petitions for Zuckerberg to resign seem to crop up almost every year, and his own employees have staged virtual protests against the company. Whistleblower Frances Haugen even said in June 2022 that Facebook can’t repair its reputation until Zuckerberg steps down, which he seems to have no intention of doing. [Read related article: Best Facebook Marketing Strategies] 

5. Elon Musk

Elon Musk has attained celebrity status with his boasts of science fiction successes and seductive forward-thinking image. Unfortunately, the man that car enthusiasts put on a pedestal often gets in the way of his own achievements, which include varying degrees of success with Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter).

Instead of being famous and admired for his game-changing innovations, Musk is most closely associated with questionable behavior. Consider the following events: 

• Questionable claims: He has a well-documented history of making controversial statements and was accused of spreading misinformation and unscientific claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Tesla missteps: In 2018, the SEC sued him for a misleading tweet about taking Tesla private, which forced him to step down as chairman while remaining CEO. Musk’s claims about Tesla’s capabilities have also been called into question. At one point, customers were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements to receive free defect repairs. That was a shady way to keep problems off the public’s radar so Tesla could continue to boost its stock price, attract business investors and hide safety concerns from auto regulators. Additional stories of environmental violations and countless employee accounts of mistreatment have often overshadowed the few successful products Tesla has been able to produce. Autopilot issues, slowing demand, price cuts and cybertruck recalls are just a few of the issues Tesla faces today.
• Twitter to X: Musk’s Twitter takeover and transition to X have been eventful. After some waffling, Musk completed the deal to acquire Twitter in October 2022. He caused controversy immediately by firing executives and unceremoniously laying off nearly half the workforce. He launched an unpopular paid verification service (Twitter Blue), immediately dealt with a slew of impostor accounts, scrapped content-moderation rules and launched an abrupt rebrand as X that caused global confusion.
• DOGE: Under President Donald Trump, Musk was appointed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory initiative created in January 2025 aiming to reduce federal waste and modernize outdated government operations. However, DOGE’s actions — including proposed spending cuts and workforce reductions — drew criticism from federal employees and sparked legal challenges for overstepping executive authority. Some reports even suggest that Musk’s political role fueled some consumer backlash, potentially contributing to Tesla’s 71% decline in net income in the first quarter of 2025 (along with lower vehicle deliveries and increased competition).

Musk’s complicated personal life, arrogant public persona, and suspect labor practices, among other factors, continue to make him a controversial public figure and businessperson. Even though he stepped down as CEO of X in 2023, he continues to wreak havoc (see below). 

6. Linda Yaccarino

Linda Yaccarino was the chairman of NBCUniversal’s global advertising and partnerships before being tapped to succeed Elon Musk as CEO of X. Over 11 years with NBCUniversal, she unified the company’s disparate global networks, business units and properties through strategic and operational initiatives. Yaccarino is credited with generating over $100 billion in advertising sales. So, it’s no wonder she caught the eye of Musk, who was looking to step down as CEO and find “someone foolish enough to take the job.”

This public comment from Musk perhaps should have been a warning sign for Yaccarino. Although Musk ostensibly stepped down as CEO of X and handed the reins to Yaccarino in May 2023, his toxic and chaotic presence has continued to ensnare the company in controversy and internal discontent. Consider the following:

• Public attacks: While one of Yaccarino’s primary objectives as CEO was to increase advertising on the platform, Musk publicly attacked and threatened to sue organizations such as Media Matters and the Anti-Defamation League for pointing out the sharp increase in racist and anti-Jewish content on X. 
• Advertiser exodus: When advertisers expressed dismay that their ads were posted next to Nazi content, Musk told them to leave the platform in a vulgar manner. Advertisers, such as Disney, Apple and NBCU, left in droves. 

First and foremost, the CEO position is a leadership position, and the person who holds it must act as a leader. This is where Yaccarino encountered trouble. She’s presented only a muted lack of response to controversies or weak justifications for Musk’s outrageous behavior. In retrospect, it appears she was installed at X to be a figurehead, while the real power remained with Elon Musk. As controversy continues to swirl around X, Yaccarino’s future at the company remains uncertain.

7. Travis Kalanick

Whatever your career or industry, soft skills can make or break you. Travis Kalanick lacked a significant one: self-awareness. Self-delusion can cause you to make bad business decisions, take relationships for granted and fail to drive growth and profits. Kalanick was driven by ruthless competitiveness, wasted money and fostered a “bro culture” that favored toxic masculinity and bullying. His missteps included the following: 

• Problems at Uber: During Kalanick’s time as CEO of Uber, the company was plagued by allegations of sexism, sexual harassment, overwork and knowingly misleading authorities. Kalanick was even recorded yelling at one of Uber’s drivers. He ran the business like a startup and never adapted his management style to align with Uber’s rapid growth. He failed to address the company’s growing pains, and due to pressure from Uber’s board and investors, he stepped down in 2017. Controversy continued to swirl as he remained on the board until resigning his seat in 2019.
• CloudKitchens’ toxic culture: After leaving Uber, Kalanick founded CloudKitchens, a restaurant rental service that provides delivery-only facilities. Although he has proclaimed the business to be a massive success, reports suggest it shares the same toxic culture as Uber under his leadership. More than 300 employees left in 2021 alone. Additionally, in 2022, the company was sued for “deceptive business practices,” and some operators filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission. In May 2025, Mixt filed suit against CloudKitchens’ Picnic service for unauthorized menu use and unsafe delivery practices, adding to earlier lawsuits over maternity leave retaliation and gender discrimination.

Kalanick’s stature was further diminished by the 2022 Showtime series Super Pumped, which brutally depicted his rise and fall. It’s telling that the show’s second season will center on Zuckerberg and Facebook.

8. Adam Neumann

Overconfidence can often lead to failure. Adam Neumann is a prime example. As CEO of WeWork, he was so confident in his skills that he once declared that his descendants would run the company 300 years from now. To his credit, Neumann was a charismatic fundraiser. He scaled quickly with an indulgent mixture of more than $12 billion in venture capital and debt.

Working nonstop, Neumann added 12,500 employees and half a million users in 111 cities and 29 countries in less than a decade. By 2018, however, the company had lost $2 billion. However, because WeWork’s valuation continued to rise, Neumann didn’t rein in expenses. Instead, he purchased a $60 million private jet, spent $90 million on six homes, and employed numerous nannies, chefs and personal assistants. Investors saw the lavish lifestyle and bought in.

However, it wasn’t long before Neumann’s over-the-top lifestyle caught up with him. With the company bleeding money before going public and accusations of wildly inappropriate workplace behavior, the executive faced growing pressure to give up his post. Amid allegations of questionable business practices, including self-dealing and using the company to unethically benefit himself, Neumann resigned from WeWork in 2019.

Similar to Kalanick and Super Pumped, Neumann was unflatteringly portrayed in the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed in 2022. Together, the programs serve as a warning to CEOs: Never get too big for your britches.

9. Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried was the celebrated CEO and founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and one of the wealthiest people in the cryptocurrency space until his downfall. He launched FTX in 2019 and grew it into one of the biggest platforms for trading crypto derivatives. By early 2022, the company was valued at $40 billion.  

However, in November 2022, FTX filed for bankruptcy after a CoinDesk report raised concerns about the company’s balance sheet and questionable financial practices. The fallout rocked the crypto world, causing a landslide of losses in the billions. Just weeks later, Bankman-Fried was arrested and charged with stealing more than $10 billion from customers and investors. Prosecutors also accused him of inflating FTX’s token value and engaging in insider trading. He was convicted about a year later and sentenced to 25 years in prison, with an $11 billion forfeiture tacked on for good measure.

One of a CEO’s primary responsibilities is to conduct business within legal guidelines and maintain an ethical business culture. The bigger the company, the more people who can be potentially harmed by fraudulent, illegal, and unethical CEO behavior, and the consequences of this behavior are severe. No situation justifies acting this way. Even if your company fails, you can file for bankruptcy, reorganize, learn from your business failure and start again. Be aware of the laws and regulations that apply to your company and industry, and ensure compliance with them.

10. Dave Calhoun

Dave Calhoun served as the president and CEO of the global aerospace company Boeing Company from January 2020 until August 2024, when he officially stepped down amid growing pressure from ongoing safety and quality control failures. Consider the following situations:

• COVID-19 layoffs: The first of Calhoun’s travails was simply poor timing; he took office just as COVID-19 hit and planes were grounded industry-wide. As a result, he laid off approximately 16,000 workers and relocated one of Boeing’s manufacturing facilities to a non-union plant. When the pandemic largely ran its course and travel ramped up again, Boeing struggled to rehire workers and dealt with union conflicts.
• Inherited tragedy: Under the previous CEO, two of Boeing’s Max planes crashed, killing almost 350 people. The planes were grounded at a cost of $20 billion, and the fallout continued under Calhoun’s tenure. While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared the Max planes to fly in 2020, it settled with Boeing for $2.5 billion to avoid prosecution for its unsafe design and failure to implement additional procedural safeguards.
• More grounded planes and safety issues: As part of the FAA deal, Boeing’s safety procedures were supposed to be strengthened. However, Max planes were grounded in 2021 after electrical problems were discovered. In 2024, Boeing was again in the news due to serious safety concerns following an incident in which an Alaska Airlines plane’s door flew off while in flight, and door bolts on another Boeing plane were found to be loose.
• Quality control repercussions: The FAA is taking a strong stance, barring the company from expanding its Max plane production until it addresses and fixes its product quality However, quality control problems have continued to plague the company. According to a 2024 FAA audit obtained by The New York Times, Boeing failed 33 of 89 safety audits, and the supplier of its 737 Max body failed seven of 13 safety audits. 

Just because the company’s problems began on someone else’s watch doesn’t entitle a CEO to place all the blame on their predecessor. Once a person becomes CEO, 100 percent of the responsibility falls to them, and it is incumbent upon that individual to fix the problem. 

What you can learn from the worst CEOs of all time

Being the head of a company isn’t a walk in the park. You’re expected to raise profits, improve manager-employee relations, keep shareholders happy, maintain an excellent reputation and more. The gig requires long hours and continually forces you to face moral and financial challenges. It’s no wonder that some end up facing executive-level employee burnout.

Fortunately, you can glean lessons from the mistakes of those who’ve come before you. We’ve compiled tips for business executives taking on this leadership role.

Don’t make these mistakes…

• Handle everything yourself: As a CEO, you wear multiple hats within the company, but your team is only as strong as its weakest link. Concentrate on hiring qualified departmental leadership so you can delegate instead of doing everything yourself.
• Cut benefits: Your workforce is the lifeblood of the company. Before eliminating employee benefits and perks, consider reducing business costs in other areas, such as business travel and excess inventory. Prioritize keeping employees satisfied.
• Keep poor managers: It’s not uncommon to put someone in a leadership position and quickly learn they’re not qualified, toxic to the culture or simply a bad fit. Don’t leave the wrong leaders in place too long, or you risk lower productivity and increased turnover. This includes hiring “yes men,” who will support anything you want to do, even if they have reservations. “Several [disgraced CEOs] operated in echo chambers or surrounded themselves with loyalists, avoiding checks on their power,” noted Jim Rettew, interim CEO at Interim CEO Solutions.
• Deflect blame: Leaders who accept blame can earn respect. However, throwing others under the bus is a bad look. “When faced with scandals, lawsuits or crashes, many [disgraced CEOs] defaulted to blame-shifting or denial,” Rettew explained.
• Hold yourself aloof from your team: Take a note from Larry Page and avoid isolating yourself from your executives and employees. It’s far easier — and more motivating — to follow a leader who engages with their team and shows at least some charisma.
• Act unethically: When leading your company, align your actions with its codes of ethics and conduct and comply with all relevant laws and regulations. Rettew emphasized that while profit is a legitimate goal, it shouldn’t come at the expense of customer, employee or stakeholder well-being. “A repeated focus on explosive growth or profitability came at the expense of ethics, safety or sustainability,” Rettew said. “Bankman-Fried represents the dangers of ignoring long-term consequences in pursuit of quick wins. Zuckerberg’s platform prioritized engagement over societal impact, eroding trust.” Titinger agreed: “If CEOs are more worried about growth and valuation than ethics or employee well-being, the organization can win in the short term but lose its soul in the long term.”
• Ignore culture or promote a toxic company culture: Company culture is the foundation of productivity, retention, morale and ethics — ignore it at your own risk. “Another red flag is unchecked toxic culture, which we saw play out in the rise and fall of organizations like Uber under Travis Kalanick,” Titinger noted. “Culture is not a side hustle — it’s a CEO job.” 

Do this instead…

• Trust employees: Good CEOs empower their staff to become self-sufficient and encourage team members to speak up and try new ideas. “Everything we do is built on trust, and if a CEO is callously treating employees like expendable cogs in a wheel, then it just causes organizational rot,” Rettew shared. “Every decision should be put through a litmus test — does this build trust or erode it?” 
• Prioritize employee well-being: Rosanna Gilderthorp, clinical psychologist and director of Know Your Mind Consulting, emphasized the importance of valuing team members’ mental and physical health. “As a clinical psychologist who’s helped organizations retain [top talent] through mental health support, I’ve observed that the worst CEOs consistently fail to understand the connection between employee well-being and organizational success,” Gilderthorp cautioned.
• Keep an open mind: While a CEO should focus on the big picture, that doesn’t mean ignoring smaller puzzle pieces. Don’t hide in your office or make yourself unavailable to managers and employees. Learn how to be an inspirational leader who considers multiple viewpoints and perspectives.
• Maintain a network of mentors: You may assume a CEO should always have all the answers, but it’s normal to feel isolated or underqualified at times. Seek out a trusted confidant and talk with business professionals who’ve been there and done that.
• Build your company on actual value: Confidence is important, but your company must deliver genuine value to its customers. If your business is based solely on bluster and hope, it won’t last long.

Jennifer Dublino contributed to this article.