What is (or was) the worst company in human history?

[Paradoxical]

I'm going with Union Carbide.

What say you?

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Monsanto.

[valerief]

28. +666 trillion!

[madokie]

31. No bout adout that.

[Sabriel]

2. Any of the several German companies responsible for Zyklon B

There were a lot of them involved:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zyklon_B

[WinkyDink]

3. I.G. Farben.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben

[yardwork]

8. That leads me to suggest Beyer as the current worst company.

Beyer combines the legacy of poison gas manufacturer with Monsanto-like manufacture of genetically modified seeds.

[FailureToCommunicate]

22. Trumped possibly by SIEMENS for Nazi evils...

!00,000 concentration camp "workers" in their factories

And yet their perky, green tinged ads are all over the media still these days!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens

[leftstreet]

4. East India Company n/t

[Journeyman]

5. The Abir Congo Company . . .

held monopolistic interest in the Belgian Congo throughout the realm of Leopold II, a period that saw the native population of the Congo reduced by as many as 20 to 40 million people.

[coalition_unwilling]

38. I was going to say the De Beers company, founded by that

notorious British imperialist and racist Cecil Rhodes. He and the Brits came up with the idea of concentration camps during the 2nd Boer War.

Famous quote from Rhodes' last will and testament: " "I contend that we are the first race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race."

But I think I have to defer to your selection.

[NutmegYankee]

6. Monsanto

They have quite a future of misery ahead, even with their past of Agent Orange and frankenfood.

[Sherman A1]

7. Well there is Wal Mart

but, I am sure there are many others to add to the list.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Being in the company of a teabagger or other wacked-out conservative.

I can't stand being near them.

[MichiganVote]

10. Textile mills and Mine owners come to mind

[prairierose]

11. Every time ths comes up...my response is...how do you choose?

These are all so bad. The East India Company was certainly the worst of its time but I think there are many modern companies that have taken the prize away from them. But if I had to choose, it would still be a toss up between Monsanto and the evil walmart.

[chemenger]

21. You're right ... how do you choose???

Massey Coal would have to be among the top ten. Murray Energy also.
Phelps-Dodge ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisbee_Deportation )
Carnegie Steel ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike )

Also Mitsubishi; Nippon Steel (the world's biggest steel company); Showa Denko (which makes, among other things, the electrodes that go into nearly every appliance in the United States); Kawasaki.

[Evoman]

12. British East India Company?

On edit: Geez, I should read the thread before I post. Still, can't beat em for evil. In Canada, the Hudson Bay Company was also pretty damn bad.

[MGB67deux]

13. United Fruit Company

It will be a long list. Common theme of the "worst" is that they held (hold) sway over "government" decisions. United Fruit Company dictated policy in Central and South America for decades through the Brothers Dulles (State Department and CIA).

[suffragette]

30. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

Agree it would be a long list and United Fruit would be on it.

[MGB67deux]

35. Thank you,

I have been here for some years but there was a confusion when I had to build a new computer and the cable company changed the whole ID thing. I just added the "deux" and came back aboard. I never did post much.... just read every morning and evening.

Cheers

[yardwork]

41. Now owned by the guy who owns Dole and a lot of other companies.

[gratuitous]

14. I'd take a tobacco company

Or the folks who collaborated with General Motors to put lead in gasoline. The amount of human suffering over such a long period of time solely for the enrichment of a favored few, all the while denying that they were doing anything untoward, served as a template for so much mischief that other companies have followed.

[BlueIris]

15. That would be THE Company, I believe.

The one with the three letter acronym that's always in trouble all the time.

[derby378]

33. Movie geek that I am...

...at first I thought you meant the Weyland-Yutani Corporation ("The Company") from the Alien series.

[Elwood P Dowd]

16. RRB Inc

Republican Robber Barons Inc

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. Monsanto

[ChairmanAgnostic]

18. Ethyl Corp, they lied about lead's effects in gasoline, knowing

It would cause poisoning.

[notesdev]

19. Goldman Sachs

with a close runner up to J.P. Morgan

All the rest are pikers compared to the swath of destruction wrought by those two.

[begin_within]

20. religion, Blackwater, BP, News Corp., Wal-Mart, Dow, Halliburton, Pfizer, Diebold,

Lockheed Martin, Columbia HCA, AIG, Allstate and all private health insurance companies, Cox Communications, AT&T, Comcast, Monsanto... and on and on... can you name a for-profit corporation that actually benefits the world?

[Rex]

23. The Carlyle Group.

[geek tragedy]

24. In the US, Standard Oil. nt

[B Calm]

25. Massey Coal

[KillCapitalism]

26. Monsanto

Their ultimate goal is to control the world's food supply.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

27. Johns Manville. How the HELL could I ignore them?

They killed hundreds of thousands.

[provis99]

29. General Electric.

De Beers is a close second.

on edit: Maybe IBM, for helping make the Holocaust possible.

[bhikkhu]

32. Phillip Morris - for most deaths caused,

for most profits successfully earned in the process, for lying about it for long enough to kill so many more, then for successfully going global with the whole addiction-to-death scheme.

[white_wolf]

34. Hailburton.

I'm convinced Cheney got us into two wars for their profit.

[Exilednight]

36. Wal-Mart - Hands down. n/t

[kas125]

37. No contest - it's Monsanto. n/t

[denem]

39. Microsoft

Just kidding ... maybe.

[Avant Guardian]

40. Blackwater