In the true spirit of the holidays, Yahoo Finance last week revealed 2021's Worst Company of the Year. And the winner is Meta Platforms, Inc.
Based on an open-ended survey collecting the responses of 1,541 Yahoo Finance readers, the company formerly known as Facebook, Inc. received an impressive 8% of the vote.
The social network-cum-multinational tech conglomerate beat firms like Robinhood Markets, which in January froze trades of hot stocks like GameStop, as well as last year's "worst company," Nikola Corporation.
It's not exactly been a banner year for Meta, which announced its rebranding in October. From confusing WhatsApp privacy policy updates and criticism over misinformation to a massive data leak and the ill-conceived Instagram for Kids idea—not to mention whistleblower Frances Haugen—the business has had its share of controversies during 2021 (and there's still 11 days of the year left).
What's especially interesting according to Yahoo Finance, are the "many and varied" reasons people dislike Facebook/Meta, which received 50% more votes than runner-up worst company Alibaba. "Not for one singular offense," the news site said, "but for a litany of grievances from groups of people that may have little else to agree about."
Mark Zuckerberg can take some comfort from about 30% of survey respondents, who said Meta could redeem itself. One reader suggested it simply needed to acknowledge and apologize for its mistakes, while also donating a "sizeable amount" of profits to reverse any harm. Meta did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.
Facebook's name change reflects the company's new focus on building a virtual world. The so-called "metaverse" follow's CEO Mark Zuckerberg's goal of creating a VR experience like the one depicted in Ernest Cline's sci-fi novel Ready Player One, where virtual reality and the natural world meld into one.
Yahoo Finance readers also spurned AT&T over share price dissatisfaction and Tesla's many infractions, including sexual harassment scandals and upset over chief Elon Musk being named Time's 2021 Person of the Year. Microsoft, meanwhile, took the crown as Yahoo Finance's Company of the Year.