9. Lloyd Blankfien, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, made the symbolic gesture of taking nearly no pay this year, at least compared to the tens of millions he has taken in years past. Blankfein’s compensation for 2009 was a mere $862,657. He made $54 million in 2007 and $41 million in 2008. Goldman’s board could certainly argue that Blankfein should have been paid better. Goldman posted record profits in its last fiscal year and its shares are up 60% over the last year. But, Goldman’s image with the Administration, Congress, and the public has been badly damaged. Its role in the collapse of AIG is still in question. Its role in helping Greece “hide” some of its sovereign obligations is being investigated as well. The man on the street believes that Goldman bankers will crawl over the backs of their own children to make money. Blankfein would, from a strategic standpoint, be better off in the court of public opinion, or the next time that he has to go before Congress, to be able to say he was paid $1 even if Goldman is doing extraordinarily well.

10. It is nearly impossible to find a company that dominates as its industry as much as Nokia (NOK). It has let such a large multitude of its opportunities be successful taken over by smaller competitors. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo runs the world’s largest handset company by far. Nokia has a market share of about 35% globally, but, the high-end of the market has gone to RIM (RIMM), Apple (AAPL), and more recently to Google (GOOG) Android operating system powered phones. Apple has built a lead in the multimedia download business with iTunes, and handset software application download business with the App store that Nokia will never match. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will be remembered as a CEO who let his company’s size advantage be squandered because of lack of innovation.
11. Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) has been one of the more poorly run companies in the video game industry since Zelnick Media took over the job of operating the firm through a management contract. Strauss Zelnick is Take-Two’s chairman, and one of his underlings at Zelnick Media, Ben Feder, acts as Take-Two’s CEO. They should make no more than $1 between them. The Zelnick Media agreement provides a monthly management fee of $208,333 ($2,500,000 per year) and the maximum annual bonus was increased to $2,500,000. The annual bonus for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2008 was $1,770,833. Since Zelnick Media has taken over TTWO shares are down 55%, the company has turned down a generous buyout offer from Electronic Arts (ERTS), and the firm’s financial performance has been abysmal.