The 10 Worst Corporations of 2003
ZNet Commentary
February 18, 2004
By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
2003 was not a year of garden variety corporate wrongdoing. No, the sheer
variety, reach and intricacy of corporate schemes, scandal and crimes was
spellbinding. Not an easy year to pick the 10 worst companies, for sure.
But Multinational Monitor magazine cannot be deterred by such
complications. And so, here follows, in alphabetical order, our list for
Multinational Monitor of the 10 worst corporations of 2003.
Bayer: 2003 may be remembered as the year of the headache at Bayer. In
May, the company agreed to plead guilty to a criminal count and pay more
than $250 million to resolve allegations that it denied Medicaid discounts
to which it was entitled. The company was beleaguered with litigation
related to its anti-cholesterol drug Baycol.
Bayer pulled the drug -- which has been linked to a sometimes fatal muscle
disorder -- from the market, but is facing thousands of suits from
patients who allege they were harmed by the drug. In June, the New York
Times reported on internal company memos which appear to show that the
company continued to promote the drug even as its own analysis had
revealed the dangers of the product. Bayer denies the allegations.
Boeing: In one of the grandest schemes of corporate welfare in recent
memory, Boeing engineered a deal whereby the Pentagon would lease tanker
planes -- 767s that refuel fighter planes in the air -- from Boeing. The
pricetag of $27.6 billion was billions more than the cost of simply buying
the planes. The deal may unravel, though, because the company in November
fired for wrongdoing both the employee that negotiated the contract for
Boeing (the company's chief financial officer), and the employee that
negotiated the contract for the government. How could Boeing fire a
Pentagon employee? Simple. She was no longer a Pentagon employee. Boeing
had hired her shortly after the company clinched the deal.
Brighthouse: A new-agey advertising/consulting/ strategic advice company,
Brighthouse's claim to infamy is its Neurostrategies Institute, which
undertakes research to see how the brain responds to advertising
campaigns. In a cutting-edge effort to extend and sharpen the commercial
reach in ways never previously before possible, the institute is using
MRIs to monitor activity in people's brains triggered by advertisements.
Clear Channel: The radio behemoth Clear Channel specializes in consuming
or squashing locally owned radio stations, imposing a homogenized music
play list on once interesting stations, and offering cultural support for
U.S. imperial adventures. It has also compiled a record of "repeated
law-breaking," according to our colleage Jim Donahue, violating the law --
including prohibitions on deceptive advertising and on broadcasting
conversations without obtaining permission of the second party to the
conversation -- on 36 separate occasions over the previous three years.
Diebold: A North Canton, Ohio-based company that is one of the largest
U.S. voting machine manufacturers, and an aggressive peddler of its
electronic voting machines, Diebold has managed to demonstrate that it
fails any reasonable test of qualifications for involvement with the
voting process. Its CEO has worked as a major fundraiser for President
George Bush. Computer experts revealed serious flaws in its voting
technology, and activists showed how careless it was with confidential
information. And it threatened lawsuits against activists who published on
the Internet documents from the company showing its failures.
Halliburton: Now the owner of the company which initially drafted plans
for privatization of U.S. military functions -- plans drafted during the
Bush I administration when current Vice President and former Halliburton
CEO Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense -- Halliburton is pulling in
billions in revenues for contract work -- providing logistical support
ranging from oil to food -- in Iraq. Tens of millions, at least, appear to
be overcharges. Some analysts say the charges for oil provision amount to
"highway robbery."
HealthSouth: Fifteen of its top executives have pled guilty in connection
with a multi-billion dollar scheme to defraud investors, the public and
the U.S. government about the company's financial condition. The founder
and CEO of the company that runs a network of outpatient surgery,
diagnostic imagery and rehabilitative healthcare centers, Richard Scrushy,
is fighting the charges. But thanks to the slick maneuvering of attorney
Bob Bennett, it appears the company itself will get off scot free -- no
indictments, no pleas, no fines, no probation.
Inamed: The California-based company sought Food and Drug Administration
approval for silicone breast implants, even though it was not able to
present long-term safety data -- the very thing that led the FDA to
restrict sales of silicone implants a decade ago. In light of what remains
unknown and what is known about the implants' effects -- including painful
breast hardening which can lead to deformity, and very high rupture rates
-- the FDA in January 2004 denied Inamed's application for marketing
approval.
Merrill Lynch: This company keeps messing up. Fresh off of a $100 million
fine levied because analysts were recommending stocks that they trashed in
private e-mails, the company saw three former execs indicted for shady
dealings with Enron. The company itself managed to escape with something
less than a slap on the wrist -- no prosecution in exchange for
"oversight."
Safeway: One of the largest U.S. grocery chains, Safeway is leading the
charge to demand givebacks from striking and locked out grocery workers in
Southern California. Along with Albertsons and Ralphs (Kroger's),
Safeway's Vons and Pavilion stores are asking employees to start paying
for a major chunk of their health insurance. Under the company's
proposals, workers and their families will lose $4,000 to $6,000 a year in
health insurance benefits.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor,
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