Netflix's Hastings Worst Tech CEO of 2011: Poll

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Netflix(NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings is the worst tech CEO of 2011, according to a recent poll of TheStreet readers.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings

Of the more than 200 people that voted, 58% named Hastings as the most terrible tech titan of the year after a series of blunders that included mishandling a subscription price hike and confusing consumers with plans to split up the company's DVD-by-mail and subscription businesses.

Shares of Netflix have dropped nearly 60% since the beginning of the year as consumers have lashed out against their once-beloved company.

Coming in second place were Research In Motion(RIMM) co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis with 19% of the vote.

Shares of the BlackBerry maker have plummeted 70% this year after a string of dismal earnings reports, a half-baked launch for its PlayBook tablet and several product delays. Balsillie and Lazardis, who share the CEO responsibilities, also presided over job cuts this summer.

RIM was also beset this year by a three-day BlackBerry outage which angered customers and caused some to switch over to the iPhone and Android devices.

Social game company Zynga CEO Mark Pincus held 12% of the vote. Critics have pointed to Pincus as the biggest threat to the FarmVille maker, citing the company's overly intense and stressful corporate culture fostered by the CEO.

Intensifying this concern for Zynga is a recent Wall Street Journal report alleging Pincus was threatening to fire several early employees unless they returned their unvested stock options.

AOL(AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong and Groupon's(GRPN) Andrew Mason rounded out fourth and fifth place, with 7% and 5%, respectively.

--Written by Olivia Oran in New York.

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