The 19 Dumbest Moments in Business in 2010

Did any one person have a dumber year than BP's disgraced CEO Tony Hayward? The lethal April 20 oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf Coast became a world-famous disaster and media circus. The company came under major fire (it didn't help that a month after the spill it was still promising that the impact would be "modest") and British citizens even campaigned for people to stop referring to the company by its original name, British Petroleum.

The spill was bad enough, but Hayward's verbal spill following the disaster was even more embarrassing. "There's no one who wants this thing over more than I do. I want my life back," he told reporters on May 30. (You can imagine how much empathy this evoked from families of the 13 workers who lost their lives in the disaster.) In June, Hayward prompted criticism from both Rahm Emanuel and President Obama. It didn't help matters when he took a relaxing trip to Cowes on June 19 to watch a yacht race.

On July 27, BP announced Hayward would be replaced as CEO, setting him free to watch yacht races in peace.By Daniel Roberts, reporterNEXT: Gap changes logo, then changes mind Email Print RSS var shared_object = SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: storyinfo.title, url: storyinfo.earl, summary: storyinfo.summary, icon: storyinfo.icon }); shared_object.attachChicklet("email", document.getElementById("emailIcon")); Last updated December 21 2010: 11:00 AM ET cnnad_createAd("27143","http://ads.cnn.com/html.ng/site=cnn_money&cnn_money_position=628x215_bot&cnn_money_rollup=business_news&cnn_money_section=quigo&cnn_money_subsection=galleries¶ms.styles=fs","215","628"); var fbcUnique = false;Also on Fortune.com Top-performing stocks of 2010 Fortune 500 companies have had a good year. As the economy continues to recover, so do profits. From Dillard's to US Airways, here are the biggest winners. More 10 best stocks for 2011Investors' fears that a bear market will return (and linger) has made for some bargains - and this group should thrive even if inflation returns. More GoogleTV gets put on hiatus The poorly-reviewed TV platform is going to miss its coming out party at CES. More cnnad_createAd("128979","http://ads.cnn.com/html.ng/site=cnn_money&cnn_money_brand=fortune&cnn_money_position=336x280_rgt&cnn_money_rollup=business_news&cnn_money_section=galleries¶ms.styles=fs","280","336"); Job SearchSee 120,832 new jobs added today Accounting jobs Engineering jobs Finance jobs Management jobs Marketing jobs Sales jobs

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