America’s 10 most ‘hated’ companies

January is a month for “best” and “worst” lists. Media moguls gather at a trendy Manhattan watering holes, and, over dirty martinis, cook up lists to boost their sales.

Last week, the website 24/7 Wall Street released its list of the 10 most hated companies in the US.

With their high levels of corporate stinginess, you’d think the Papa John’s, Hostess, Applebee’s, Denny’s, or Wal-Mart would be on it– but no.

With nearly universal hatred of their private prison system, maybe Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) would be on the list– no.

How about Koch Industries? Is it the most hate company in the US? Incredibly, no. TD Ameritrade– whose CEO also tried to buy the 2012 elections? NO.

Who is the most hated company in the US according to 24/7 Wall Street? J.C. Penney. WTF?

To find out why Penney’s is hated and who else is on the list, continue after the jump.

 J.C. Penney? Really more “hated” than CCA? Come on.

Not one but two mom-and-apple-pie retailers– Penney’s and Sears– made the 2012 most hated list. This is bullshit. Koch Industries, Wal-Mart, and CCA are OK– but not Penney’s, Sears, or Facebook? (Yes, with a gabillion users, Facebook has been on the “most hated” list for two years.) Apparently, 24/7 Wall Street didn’t consider buying elections, making money off of millions of incarcerated citizens, or union busting all that bad. Instead, to come up with the most hated list, they looked at the success of product launches, return on investments, poor customer service, and layoffs. (OK, I agree with the poor customer service and layoff measures, but seriously, an poorly executed product launch gets you on the most hated list?)

Here is their rationale:

Nothing harms the long-term reputation of a company on Wall St. more than a steep, and often unexpected drop in its share value, particularly one that offers almost no chance of recovery. The stock prices of several companies on this list lost most of their value as they posted high double digits declines.

And here are the specifics on how they determined their choices.

Here is the 2012 list from 24/7 Wall Street:

1. J.C. Penney

2. Dish Network

3. T Mobile USA

4. Facebook

5. CitiGroup

6. Research in Motion

7. American Airlines

8. Nokia

9. Sears Holding Corp

10. Hewlett Packard

Here is The Tucson Progressive’s List of the most hated companies in the US:

1. Corrections Corporation of America for lobbying state legislatures for stiffer laws, thus enabling CCA to make billions on incarcerating millions of Americans in private prisons

2. Koch Industries for buying politicians and elections in order to boost their profits

3. Wal-Mart for creating a cycle of poverty worldwide with union busting, poor working conditions for vendors, and ruthless negotiating

4. The Banksters– CitiGroup, Chase, Bank of America, etc.– for playing with our money, crashing the worldwide economy, and then stealing millions of homes from Americans

5. The Big Pharma/Big Insurance complex of companies that keep Americans from having universal health care

6. Big Oil and other energy companies who would trade a clean environment for profits any day

7. Credit Card companies for changing bankruptcy laws to hurt Americans in trouble and then gouging us with fees and obscene interest rates

8. Manufacturers who send tens of thousands of American jobs overseas because it’s easier to exploit those workers for profit

9. The Fast Food Giants– for selling us crap to eat

10. The Main Stream Media for supressing real news and feeding us junk