The Biggest CEO Meltdowns

The biggest CEO meltdowns are usually gauged by the success or failure of the company they are running, since a meltdown by the man in charge will usually be followed shortly thereafter by reverberations throughout the company itself. Meltdowns are, arguably, a regular occurance among most CEOs as their job is riddled with pressure and little to no room for error. However, a series of meltdowns that lead to the meltdown of the entire company is something else entirely, especially if the company had been large and profitable.

Ken Lay, Enron

One of the biggest scams in the history of American business was instigated by Ken Lay, who ran Enron, an energy company based out of Houston. After supposedly earning over 100 billion dollars in sales throughout the 2000's, it became apparent that the liabilities of the company weren't all presented on it's balance sheet. Then it became apparent that it's earnings were doctored, as were it's assets. As this became public, a scandal exploded and literally melted the company down in a year's time. Lay was convicted of securities fraud in 2006 and then died shortly before his sentencing.

Chuck Conway, Kmart

Kmart had been a successful American retailer since 1899, but had seen it's profits sag considerably by the late 1990's. Enter Chuck Conway, who was set on turning the company around, making it a force in American retail again and competing with the 300 pound gorilla in the discount retail game, Walmart. He joined the company in 2000. By 2002, Kmart had to file for bankruptcy and Conway was fired, charged with defrauding investors and stockholders and using company money to buy airplanes and cars. 

George Shaheen, Webvan

George Shaheen ran Anderson Consulting (which also melted down in a much different way) until 1999 when he started Webvan, a company meant to take grocery orders online and deliver them to you in 30 minutes. They planned to be in 26 cities but only had operations in 10, all on the West Coast. In just a year and a half's time they spent 1.5 billion dollars and employed 4,500 people, 2,000 of which they fired when they had to file for bankruptcy. Instead of calling it quits then, Shaheen doubled down by investing in a new HomeGrocer company through Webvan and raised an IPO of 375 million dollars. This melted down quicker then the previous company and none of the money was ever recovered.

John Rigas, Adelphia

One of the largest cable companies in the United States, Adelphia was run by John Rigas who founded the company in 1952. While they were booming in the 90's, the company suddenly went bankrupt in 2002, because Rigas was funneling money from it to fund pet projects his family was doing. He was charged with stealing $100 million and is now in jail.

William Sewell, Pan Am

Pan Am airlines was one of the biggest and most successful airlines in the world by the end of the 1970's, as it had been built up by Juan Trippe, a CEO that many consider to be one of the best in history. William Sewell, the man who took over for him, was on the opposite end of the spectrum. His first mistake was buying National airlines for $400 million in 1980. This almost bankrupted the company, something that would get him fired in a year's time. However, this debt would loom over Pan Am for another decade, when it finally declared bankruptcy and was sold off.