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The top five most hated companies, according to a panel of financial economists, are Standard Oil, Union Carbide, the United Fruit Company, Exxon and ITT. /

With oil still spewing from the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster site in the Gulf of Mexico, BP might seem like the worst company of all time. But the Daily Beast surveyed a group of well-known financial historians to add some perspective: They found that BP ranks as the sixth most hated company of all time. More than 60 companies received votes, but the number one spot went to Standard Oil whose name, according to the Beast, is "synonymous with corporate greed." John D. Rockefeller's oil company worked by swallowing up smaller companies with ruthless practices until the Supreme Court eventually broke the group up into 34 smaller entities that would go on to become Mobil, Chevron, Exxon and others. Union Carbide, the United Fruit Company, Exxon and ITT rounded out the top five on the list. When a 1984 methyl isocyanate leak led to the deaths of up to 15,000 people, Union Carbide earned the title of deadliest corporate disaster in history. "Union Carbide was sued by the Indian government and agreed to pay $470 million in 1989," the Daily Beast reported. "'The executives responsible for that just recently received their sentence: two years in jail and $2,100, which many considered laughable,'" one panelist noted. Also included on the list were Microsoft for its monopolistic practices; Goldman Sachs for its involvement in the recent financial crisis; Nestle because of the 1970s boycott of infant formula and the company's refusal to admit that its product sometimes resulted in death, especially in developing countries; and Halliburton. /The Daily Beast