It was tempting to give this award to BHP, after the astonishing announcement that its miners, after a 12-hour shift in 40°C heat, were being limited to a maximum of four drinks and nothing after 9.30pm. Strict limits on the amber nectar is more likely to cause rioting than to improve the health and safety of the workforce, and it seems extraordinary that this comes from the country that gave us David Boon, consumer of a record 52 beers on the Qantas flight from Sydney to London on his way to play a Test cricket series.
However, BHP’s nannying was eclipsed by the sheer scale of WeWork’s losses, with the company dropping about $2.1bn in the first quarter as it lost over a quarter of its members and spent $494m on restructuring its property portfolio to extricate itself from unprofitable locations. A settlement with its founder, Adam Neumann, cost another $500m, after investors decided they could cope with a CEO who was a bit weird, but batshit crazy was a step too far...
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