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The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: April 1 The Companies With The Most Bad Press
Published:
The press pounded on Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) as David Sokol, a key Warren Buffett aide, resigned in shame, causing concerns about governance at the conglomerate. Toyota (NYSE: TM) stayed on the bad press watch list as it continued to have production problems in Japan and said it would raise US prices.
AIG (NYSE: AIG) replaced the head of one of its key insurance units. General Mills (NYSE: GIS) rose on the negative press list because of increasing commodities prices and FDA questions about food dyes.
Note: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the hardest-hit companies.The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market
| Rank | Company | Ticker | Score | Change in Rank | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GOOG | 75.396 | +2 | CEO gets good markets from workers | |
| 2 | Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 67.202 | -1 | Still going through recalls of OTC products |
| 3 | Las Vegas Sands | LVS | 41.781 | +15 | Macau investigation into local operations |
| 4 | Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | 40.284 | -2 | Suit with women workers in Supreme Court |
| 5 | Toyota Motor Corporation | TM | 38.331 | +16 | Raises US car prices |
| 6 | Lennar | LEN | 37.029 | -1 | Concerns about inside trading |
| 7 | Microsoft | MSFT | 36.694 | +73 | Steve Ballmer gets low worker ratings |
| 8 | Bank of America Corp. | BOA | 35.633 | -4 | Still smarting from Fed dividend rejection |
| 9 | BP | BP | 34.75 | +3 | Worries about suits over Deepwater |
| 10 | Berkshire Hathaway | BRK.A | 31.159 | +30 | Sokol resigns in shame |
| 5 | Toyota Motor Corporation | TM | 38.331 | +16 | Car prices
|
| 7 | Microsoft | MSFT | 36.694 | +73 | Ballmer |
| 10 | Berkshire Hathaway | BRK.A | 31.159 | +30 | Sokol
|
| 17 | American International Group | AIG | 25.904 | +25 | New division CEO |
| 23 | General Mills | GIS | 22.584 | +44 | Higher commodities prices |
Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.
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