Reed Hastings of beleaguered Netflix isn't the most popular chief executive around.
In fact, Hastings was voted the worst tech CEO of 2011 in a recent poll of TheStreet readers.
Fifty-eight percent of the more than 200 people who voted gave Hastings the unenviable distinction during a year in which Netflix's stock price has plummeted after the company announced a price hike that alienated many customers.
The future of the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company has been thrown into further question after the U.S. Postal Service announced huge cutbacks next year that will impact the timing of first-class delivery and potentially impair the perceived value of Netflix's DVD by mail service. The Postal Service on Monday announced plans to mostly eliminate next-year delivery for first-class mail. But Patrick Donahue, the postmaster general, said Netflix officials told him they planned to take action in order to assure many next-day deliveries, according to The New York Times.
Hastings is not the only CEO whose image has been tarnished over the last year. Nineteen percent of TheStreet readers polled voted Research in Motion co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis the worst tech CEOs of the year.
The Canadian company has struggled with disappointing sales and other major problems including a days-long network outage that left millions of BlackBerry customers around the world without services.
