History Main / CorruptCorporateExecutive

->''"Killing the indigenous looks bad, but the only thing the shareholders hate more than bad press is a bad quarterly statement."''
-->-- '''Parker Selfridge''', ''Film/{{Avatar}}''

->''"The markets are free! So much money for me! Tell me, why should I care for peace and love?!"''
-->-- '''Pig With The Face Of A Boy''', ''Soviet Tetris''

* [[RogueTrader Rogue Traders]] of the ''{{Warhammer40000}}'' universe can often become this, being fabulously wealthy merchant princes given free reign to orchestrate business ventures in the far reaches of space by Imperial bureaucracy. This being [[BlackAndGreyMorality the]] [[CrapsackWorld universe]] that it is, even the HonestCorporateExecutive examples of Rogue Traders will often treat employees as expendable and exploit entire planets for profit in the name of capitalism. It's just that there are far worse Traders that will hire incredibly dangerous aliens like Orks and Dark Eldar, or sacrifice the men under their command [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney just because they can]]. It's all relative, really.

* The big-guy-versus-little-guy version is subverted in the "Gnomes" episode. Tweek's dad's coffee shop is threatened by the imminent arrival of a Starbucks-esque chain, and he conscripts the kids into encouraging the town to prevent this. However, the kids learn from the Underpants Gnomes that successful corporations often get that way because they have a better product. When the townsfolk actually try the chain's coffee, even Tweek's dad agrees it's far superior to what he was making, and the town relents.

* The big-guy-versus-little-guy version is subverted by ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' in the "Gnomes" episode. Tweek's dad's coffee shop is threatened by the imminent arrival of a Starbucks-esque chain, and he conscripts the kids into encouraging the town to prevent this. However, the kids learn from the Underpants Gnomes that successful corporations often get that way because they have a better product. When the townsfolk actually try the chain's coffee, even Tweek's dad agrees it's far superior to what he was making, and the town relents.

* ''Film/Ro

* ''Film/Ro

* ''Film/RoboGeisha'': Both Hikaru Kageno and his father, Kenyama, heads of the Kagano Steel Manufacturing corporation. They kidnap and force young women into becoming their personal assassins, attempt to murder anyone and everyone who gets in their way, and they ultimately desire to ''destroy Japan'' to achieve their goals.
* [[spoiler:Robert]], to an extent, in ''MysteryTeam''.
* Travis from ''{{Congo}}'' is so obsessed with making money that he sends out multiple expeditions into the [[BananaRepublic dangerous African jungle]] to search for diamonds that will make his company billions of dollars. When the members of the expeditions keep dying off, he doesn't care. He just sends more people out in the hopes that at least one of them will retrieve the diamonds.
** Then there's the fact that one of those people is his own ''son''. And no, he doesn't care.
* Alonzo Hawk in ''Film/HerbieRidesAgain''.
* Gary Winston in ''{{Antitrust}}''. He tries to justify his actions (which include stealing others' work and outright murder) by claiming that any startup company in a garage can put his software giant NURV out of business.
* Averted in ''IrishJam'', where the Japanese businessman Mr. Suzuki, seeking to build an amusement park on a small Irish island is, in fact, an honorable man. It's Lord Hailstock, the local landlord, who is the corrupt one.
* ''[[Film/{{Transformers}} Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]'' has [[spoiler:Dylan Gould]], who willingly helps the Decepticons. While it initially seems like he's under duress, it later becomes clear that he is, in some respects, more evil than the Decepticons.
* The BigBad in ''TheTuxedo'' is Dietrich Banning, who owns a bottled water company. His plan is to infect the US water reservoirs with deadly bacteria in order to be the sole supplier of drinking water in the country. He also offers the deal to the heads of the heads of the other major bottled water companies, in exchange for 50% of their income.
* Pretty much everybody in ''Film/MissNobody'' has some personal corruption, but for the top spot, it's a duel between two of the executives at Judge Pharmaceuticals: Nether, who tries to push a clearly dangerous drug onto the market to make money, and Sarah Jane, who is a SerialKiller trying to get herself one KlingonPromotion after another.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'' has Ratchet, TheDragon to [[BigBad Madame Gasket]] who took control of Bigweld Industries prior to Rodney coming to Robot City. He had a plan to con robots out of their money by convincing them to replace their old bodies in favor of shiny newer ones and shutting down production of spare parts for older models to make the new parts their only choice, going against Bigweld's slogan that you can be successful regardless of what you're made of.
* Mr. O'Hare in the film version of ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax'', as well as the Once-ler before the failure of his business and subsequent HeelRealization.
* Sam Neill's character Bromley is every bit of this in ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Occurs in Daniel Handler's ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents''. Closer to this than CorruptHick is Sir, the amoral, cigar-smoking lumbermill owner who pays his workers in coupons and gives them gum for lunch; in a later appearance, business is bad, as nearby lumber source the Finite Forest is running out of trees.
* Occurs several times in David Wingrove's ''ChungKuo'' series.
* In Creator/RoaldDahl's ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', it is mentioned that [[TheWonka Willy Wonka's]] first factory was put out of business due to his recipes getting stolen by [=CCEs=] via corporate espionage. This is a major reason why Wonka hires Oompa Loompas, because they are completely loyal to him. As a subplot in the first film adaptation, Charlie is approached by a CCE who tries to convince Charlie to spy on Wonka for him (fortunately, it's only a SecretTestOfCharacter, and Charlie refuses anyway).
* British sci-fi author PeterFHamilton deliberately set out to invert this trope with Julia Evans, the young idealistic CEO of Event Horizon, in his trilogy about psychic-detective Greg Mandel. She keeps most of her industry in Britain to provide work and a strong economy (this also increases Event Horizon's power and influence within Britain) and quashes [[TheWorldIsNotReady potentially harmful technologies]] rather than make a profit from them.
* Newman King, founder and CEO of the eponymous retail chain of BentleyLittle's ''The Store''. Whereas the average CCE causes suffering as a side-effect of their ruthless pursuit of profit, King and his organization go out of their way to cause completely unnecessary suffering ''on top of'' the side-effects of his ruthless pursuit of profit. The company's corporate motto might as well be "ForTheEvulz." The Store sets up shop in small towns, buys the local government and puts small business owners out of business, like a relatively normal company might. But then it also does things like buy up the town's utilities so it can spy on people's phone calls and e-mails, murder small business owners, , force employees to go out and beat the homeless, stock child pornography and other bizarre, illegal products, whore out female employees, sic zombies on people, trick a man into having sex with his own daughter and send his wife the videotape of it, etc.
* Derek Leech in assorted fiction by Creator/KimNewman; a [[StrawmanPolitical living embodiment of Thatcherism]] or an AnonymousRinger of RupertMurdoch crossed with {{SATAN}} himself.
* Reacher Gilt from Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/GoingPostal''. Essentially John Galt from ''Atlas Shrugged'' reincarnated as a MagnificentBastard, he runs the Grand Trunk (essentially a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line pre-telegraph version of Western Union]]) and is willing to run the machines until they fall apart (and kill off the operators as needed) in the name of extra money. In fact, he's a con artist like Moist von Lipwig, the book's protagonist, but worse because he has more ambition and fewer scruples; it's eventually revealed he plans to run the company into the ''ground'' and buy it at rock-bottom prices under an alias, just to see if he can get away with it. He also conned the original owners of the Grand Trunk by buying the company with its own money, driving them into despair and poverty, and keeps a half-feral banshee on hire to kill anyone who threatens his long con whom he can't buy off or discredit. ''All this'' Gilt did because conning and outsmarting people [[ForTheEvulz is his idea of fun]].
* The villains of ''AtlasShrugged'' are the Robber Baron variety with an emphasis of power (or 'pull') over money, complete with public welfare projects in order to smooth over the various crimes they commit.
* This occurs many times in the ''{{Destroyer}}''. The example that comes to mind is the Executive of the Vox network trying to take over a rival via using the Evil AI FRIEND.
* The emissaries from the Western Galactic Empire in Robert Zubrin's ''The Holy Land'', who arrange for the export of [[AppliedPhlebotinum helicity]] from Earth. They seem like average sorts until it becomes obvious that the technology they help Earth import in exchange is used to murder hundreds of billions of innocent people and transform America into a totalitarian regime, and yet their biggest worry is the imminent formation of a [[RecycledINSPACE Space OPEC]] that cuts into profit margins.
* Guilder Worlin in the third book of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: GauntsGhosts'', who doesn't hesitate to murder anyone who gets wind of his illegal operations and inadvertently [[spoiler: leaves the door open for an invasion of the city.]]
* ''Literature/BattlefieldEarth'''s [[MeaningfulName Psychlos]] have a disproportionate number of corrupt corporate executives: BigBad Terl's whole plan is to get access to some gold off the company records, and is able to [[strike:blackmail]] [[BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord gain "leverage" over]] his boss by exposing the latter's embezzlements. Their race even has company regulations allowing planetary overseers to take whatever actions deemed necessary to ensure a profit. Of course, anyone who is actually ''caught'' embezzling corporate profits is executed.
* Felix Jongleur, founder and owner of [[MegaCorp J Corp]] in TadWilliams' ''{{Otherland}}'', seems to feel that it's his right as the oldest living human being to use his financial power to find a way to cheat death, regardless of the cost in terms of money, lives, or morality.
* In Creator/TomHolt's ''Literature/JWWellsAndCo'' series, many of the members of the board of executives of the eponymous company are like this, and since the company supplies magical services to anyone able to pay enough, the members of the company often have supernatural powers themselves. Both [[MadScientist Professor van Spee]] and [[TheFairFolk Judy di Castel'bianco]] try to take over the world before being neutralized by the hero, and Dennis Tanner is universally regarded as a highly unscrupulous jerk, though not as evil as some of his colleagues. The latest book, ''The Better Mousetrap'' features another corrupt executive from a rival company, who has people killed on a regular basis until [[spoiler: she is sent back in time and her magical abilities are neutralized.]]
* In Sebastian Faulks' ''A Week In December'', John Veals may qualify, given that he's only out to make as much money as possible and to do it legally - ethics aside.
* ''AbleTeam''. Unomondo, who controls powerful business interests in Central and South America, funds {{Bananna Republic}}s and death squads, and is the BigBad behind a neo-Nazi conspiracy with sympathisers in the US Government itself. Probably the closest thing that series had to a recurring villain.
* ''MaximumRide''. Every antagonist in the series is one of these.
* Geryon from ''PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' is a more rustic version of this, essentially making him a combination of Corrupt Corporate Executive and CorruptHick
* Subverted in ''Fletch and the Widow Bradley'' by Gregory [=McDonald=], where Fletch is drawn into a story that seems to revolve around a CorruptCorporateExecutive but really, the lies, half-truths and doctored documents all turn out to be the result of the CEO's convoluted personal life, for which Fletch and the reader feels empathy.
* Pavel Kazakov from the DaleBrown novel ''Warrior Class''. A Russian oilman with the goal of building an oil pipeline in the Balkans as part of re-strengthening the Fatherland, he is [[TheDreaded feared]] even by the Russian higher-ups, [[ShroudedInMyth rumoured]] to be a powerful [[TheMafiya Mafiya boss]] and druglord and certainly in possession of much violent power.
** Harold Kingman from ''Act of War'', a slimy and well-connected oilman whose facilities [[WellIntentionedExtremist eco-terrorist group GAMMA]] seek to wreck. When he tries to get Jason Richter and the [[ImpossiblyGracefulGiant CID]] technology into his hands, Jason's refusal is empathic.
* Marc Vilo (and to some degree, the rest of the Board of Governors) in ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine''.
* Jon Spiro from the ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Eternity Code'', has an alliance with the Chicago mob, and states that he intends to spend the last 20 years of his life bleeding the planet dry with the stolen 'Cube' supercomputer; once he's gone, the world can go to hell with him for all he cares.
* The Privy Council of the {{Sten}} Series is a FiveBadBand of CCE's, whose ruthless money-grubbing is eclipsed only by their perverse proclivities.
* Occasional antagonists in the ''Literature/{{Bolo}}'' universe.
* The [[OurElvesAreBetter Darhel]], from Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/LegacyOfTheAldenata'', is a ''race'' of [=CCEs=]. Human [=CCEs=] also are seen here and there in the series.
* Rod Portlyn from the ''StarfleetCorpsOfEngineers'' series. How corrupt is he? He deliberately poisoned a colony world to induce crop failures, then came in to buy the increasingly useless land. He kept the farmers on as workers and thus earned their gratitude by "saving them" from bankruptcy. He turned another world in the same star system into a dumping ground for garbage, and he later tries to murder its population. All in the name of profit, obviously.
* Red Hammernut from CarlHiaasen's ''SkinnyDip''.
* [=GalacTech=]'s executives in Lois [=McMaster=] Bujold's ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Falling Free]]''.
** Similarly, the White Chrysanthemum Cryonics Corporation in ''Cryoburn''.
** The literal robber Barons of Jackson's Whole.
* Sir John Charnage from the YoungBond novel ''Double or Die''.
* Xanatos, Qui-Gon's former apprentice in ''Literature/JediApprentice'', is the head of Offworld, one of the largest mining consortiums in the galaxy. Under his control, Offworld has stripped numerous planets of their resources, blackmailed and/or bribed governments, and backed criminal politicians on several planets. Its front company [=UniFy=] in ''The Day of Reckoning'' is no better, keeping the population of Telos pacified with BreadAndCircuses while they stripmine the planets holy spaces, and contaminate their sacred pools with chemicals. And that's leaving out the fact that Offworld is also involved with the illegal slave trade, and Xanatos' terrorist vendetta against the Jedi.
* Morgan Sloat in ''Literature/TheTalisman'' at first. However, the truth is slightly more complicated and involves alternate realities.
* There are many of these in ''Literature/{{Daemon}}'', working with unsavoury PrivateMilitaryContractors to try and preserve the status quo.
* ''TransformersTransTech'' story "I, Lowtech" has protagonist Bulletbike, whose only redeeming quality is that he's ''technically'' never broken a law or directly injured anyone. [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain Then he gets worse]]. His ArchEnemy Ego is no better, and it's implied ThereAreNoGoodExecutives period.
* ''TransformersShatteredGlass'' has [[spoiler:the human R.J. Blackrock]], who turns out to be PlayingBothSides so he can later [[spoiler: kill all of the Cybertronians]] for his own benefit.
* Max Barry's ''MachineMan'' has The Manager, head of Better Future. The bastard even smirkingly admits to [[spoiler:putting an {{EMP}} in Lola's heart.]] Well. At least before Dr. Neumann [[spoiler: kills him via DestinationDefenestration]].
* [[TheFaceless The Onceler]] from ''Literature/TheLorax''.
* Peter Sharpe of the Prometheus Corporation, from TheChroniclesOfProfessorJackBaling, describes the Prometheans as shepherds and humanity as sheep. Two guesses on how much value he assigns to the lives of people who aren't "enlightened."
* ''Literature/YearZero'' is pretty much one long scathing (albeit amusing) indictment on the music industry and those in charge.
* ''{{Literature/Airframe}}'' turns out to have two in [[spoiler: John Marcer and Bob Richman]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Grossberg, the first head of Network 23 on ''Series/MaxHeadroom'', is so archetypal that every Corrupt Corporate Executive since has, perhaps unintentionally (or indirectly, by way of Gordon Gekko of ''WallStreet''), paid him homage. Specific foibles of the character type that he manifested include an almost {{bishonen}} level of grooming, [[GoodHairEvilHair slicked-back hair]], and a severe facial tic.
* Ziktor of ''Series/VRTroopers'' was essentially a Grossberg clone, with the added twist that he was also secretly a monstrous being from AnotherDimension.
* Series/{{JAG}}: used often as defense contracters will sell faulty equipment at premium prices resulting in deaths of service members. Any military officer who aids them is always a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_officer junior officer]].
** In "Act of Terror", Percival Bertram is a wealthy businessman (looking like a CorruptHick) who supports right-wing conservative politicians and brands himself as a super-patriot advocating that the U.S. should take gloves of with respect to terrorists to U.S. interests in the Middle East. However, the alleged super-patriot finances terrorism in the Middle East against U.S. interests (supposedly to create a self-fulfilling prophecy gaining his own business interests.)
* Anton Mercer of ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' was at first almost indistinguishable from Ziktor. His twist, though, was that he wasn't actually evil: he was just acting that way to keep anyone from noticing that he was in a JekyllAndHyde relationship with the series BigBad.
* Jim Profit (''{{Profit}}'') was another in the Grossberg line -- and he was the central character of the show.
** Though it must be said that Profit isn't exactly ''corrupt'': granted, he does some very unethical things, but he does them to people who turn out to be far more corrupt and/or actively dangerous than he.
*** Say what? In the second episode, he framed an innocent man for murder and had him sent to prison for 20 years. The man's crime? Knowing that Profit framed his predecessor for corporate espionage and murdered his father!
**** Uh, no. That man was not innocent. Profit would never have framed him if he hadn't been trying to frame Profit for the murder of someone who'd died of natural causes--Profit just hung the frame he'd created on him.
* Edward Vogler from ''Series/{{House}}'' was a very classic example.
* Gene [=McLennen=] and Jonas Hodges in ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' (as well as a handful of others throughout the series).
* A good pre-80s example is Tobias Vaughn from the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''The Invasion''. As noted above, he was very much a corporate Blofeld.
** Also, The Collector from the 4th Doctor episode ''The Sun Makers'' - defeated when the Doctor taxed him to death.
** And there's Morgus from ''The Caves of Androzani'', who murdered the president, conducted industrial sabotage on his own company, arranged for vagrants to toil in his work camps and perpetuated a planetary civil war just to keep his profit margins acceptably high.
** The new series of ''Series/DoctorWho'' has Henry van Statten, whose computer company is based on stolen ImportedAlienPhlebotinum including an imprisoned Dalek, and Vaughn's AlternateUniverse successor, John Lumic, creator of new Cybermen. Plus Kazran Sardick from the 2010 Christmas special, a man so bitter that he was going to let 4003 people die in a spaceliner crash - not ForTheEvulz, but because he just didn't care. Also the Editor from "The Long Game", and Max Capricorn from "Voyage of the Damned".
* Most of the villains who appeared in ''Series/KnightRider'' and ''Series/TheATeam'' were of the combination CorruptCorporateExecutive[=/=]CorruptHick variety.
* Everyone initially in Wolfram and Hart of ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Especially Holland Manners.
* Likewise, most of the higher-ups at [[{{Dollhouse}} Rossum]], though the person at the top is [[WellIntentionedExtremist not]].
* It is subtly implied that ''Series/{{Firefly}}'''s Blue Sun Corporation is behind some of the [[MindRape trauma]] River Tam suffered while at the Academy; for example, in the episode "Shindig" she attacks several food cans with the Blue Sun logo on them, and in "Ariel" she takes a butcher knife to one of Jayne's shirts bearing the corporation's logo -- while he's still wearing it (though it is [[FanWank also argued]] that she did this because she knew that Jayne would [[spoiler: try to sell her and Simon out to the Alliance later]]).
* Tony Soprano from ''Series/TheSopranos'' sort of counts as this.
* In the same vein as the above, Russell "Stringer" Bell" of ''TheWire'' has very clear aspirations to ''become'' a CCE and ascend from his status as just a drug kingpin, and takes economics classes at a community college and starts buying up housing properties to this effect. [[spoiler:His own ruthless, double-dealing nature comes back to haunt him, though, and he's killed before any of these plans can come into fruition.]]
** There's also Frank Sobotka, who is a corrupt labor union official/harbor foreman. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for him, RedemptionEqualsDeath when his "business partners" find out that he was about to talk to the cops.]]
* Subverted in ''TheSarahConnorChronicles'', where [=ZieraCorp=] is a company run by a rather creepy woman named Catherine Weaver, who acquires the Turk supercomputer. [[spoiler: Weaver turns out to be a T-1001, but is actually on humanity's side in trying to prevent Judgment Day and defeat Skynet.]]
** That may be true, but that makes [[spoiler:"her" a WellIntentionedExtremist, as "she"'s perfect willing to kill anyone in "her" way]].
* ''{{SCTV}}'' satirised this with the characters Guy Cabalero (played by Joe Flaherty) and Mayor Tommy Shanks (played by John Candy). Another John Candy character that qualifies as this is Johnny [=LaRue=].
* One of the stock bad guy types on ''Series/MacGyver''.
* Alec Baldwin's Jack Donaghy on ''Series/ThirtyRock''. Jack is rather sympathetic by the usual standards of the character type, but that really doesn't say much. Devon Banks, Jack's rival, may be a better example.
* Damon in ''Series/{{Enlightened}}'' is an example of this trope. Abaddonn is already shaping up to be a pretty nasty company on its own merits, added to which he is up to dodgy financial practices.
* Domyoji Kaede, at least in the j-drama continuity of ''HanaYoriDango'' is implied to use unethical practices to secure her company's massive, monopoly-esque corporate empire.
* The KoreanSeries version of the above example, ''BoysBeforeFlowers'', has the EvilMatriarch systematically destroying her son's love interest's livelihood, while manipulating the corporate empire she created. This includes telling her own children that their father died [[spoiler: when in fact he was in a stroke-induced coma]].
* Another example of a KoreanDrama is ''CanYouHearMyHeart''. CEO Choi delibrately witholds oxygen to his ill father-in-law in order to inherit the company. And that's just for starters...
* Every CEO defendant on ''Series/LawAndOrder'' exemplifies this trope.
* Vexcor's Essa Rompkin and Brion Boxer, the {{Big Bad}}s of ''Series/CharlieJade''. As heads of an above the law MegaCorp, bribery and having people killed are child's play for them. The really impressive bits are Boxer's plan to steal the water from a parallel earth to replenish the one his company's polluted, a process which will destroy a third universe as a side-effect, or how, to rejuvenate the decrepit Boxer, Essa calls employees up to her office and forces them on the spot to consent -- under the threat that they and their family will almost certainly be condemned to poverty if they refuse -- to a fatal medical procedure wherein Boxer essentially drains the life out of them.
* Despite the show ostensibly being about ''ninjas'', the most common villain on ''Series/TheMaster'' (known to ''MST3K'' fans as ''Master Ninja'') would be one of these. It might explain why the show didn't last more than thirteen episodes.
* Every member of the PlanetOfHats [[Franchise/StarTrek Ferengi]] race, if they were high enough in business to be considered an executive. Their race doesn't distinguish between corrupt and non-corrupt, as long as you make a profit.
* The villains on ''{{Damages}}''. Unless they're [[DirtyCop Dirty Cops]] who just work for one.
* The NID from ''{{Stargate}}'' verse, though they only wanted to get access to alien tech. After they got rooted out, the Trust took over instead.
** Don't forget [[MagnificentBastard Ba'al]] himself, who somehow manages to become the head of a major corporation on Earth.
** Del Tynan, a low-level supervisor for Tech Con Group on Hebridan is a conspiracy nut who believes that the [[LizardFolk Serrakin]] and the [[HalfHumanHybrid human/Serrakin hybrids]] are secretly in charge and putting pure humans down as second-class citizens. It turns out that the reason for his complaint is that he was passed over for promotion twice. When the president of the corporation Miles Hagan (who is the aversion to this trope, as far as we know) confronts Tynan, he explains that the reason he was passed over for promotion was due to an internal investigation into Tynan, which revealed corruption. A rare case of a CCE who tries to justify his actions with racist conspiracy theories.
* Richard "Dick" Roman from series seven of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. It's hard to get much more corrupt than "possessed by the leader of the abominations God dumped in Purgatory for everyone's safety".
* B.P. Richfield of ''{{Dinosaurs}}'', who's willing to do anything to make a profit, [[spoiler:including causing an Ice Age that will kill the dinosaurs. His only thought was that heaters, blankets, and cocoa were selling like hotcakes.]]
* ''{{Smallville}}'': [[MagnificentBastard Lionel Luthor]] and his son/[[BastardUnderstudy successor]], [[ManipulativeBastard Lex]], used their company, [=LuthorCorp=] to perform illegal experiments, research and try to control alien life, and increase their own personal power and wealth no matter who got hurt in the process; Lex's NumberTwo, [[SmugSnake Regan Matthews]] ends up being one by default due to his UndyingLoyalty to his boss. [[TheBaroness Tess Mercer]], who replaced the Luthor's at the company's helm, is a different variation: a WellIntentionedExtremist who used her position to try and force Clark, her chosen [[MessianicArchetype Messiah]] into becoming a hero, via the blackest means possible. Then there's [[AlternateUniverse Earth-2 Lionel]], who managed to combine this trope with DiabolicalMastermind, fusing their MegaCorp with the Metropolis underworld and essentially becoming TheEmperor. The show also has a subversion in GreenArrow/[[VigilanteMan Oliver Queen]], who while a definite {{Antihero}} is one of the strongest forces for justice in-series.
* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' lives and breathes by this trope. Nearly every AssholeVictim in a given episode is either a mega-corporate exec or the country hick version of this, with a preference for going after the former. WordOfGod has stated that many of their villain/victims are based heavily on real corrupt executives and real crimes that they've committed, with only the tiniest bit of embellishment -- and that in some cases, the fictional version has been toned DOWN from their real-life counterpart because the real thing just wouldn't seem believable to TV audiences.
** Don't forget the CCE who knows about the team's activities and makes money off them. It turns out he's in cahoots with another CCE, who [[spoiler:put the team together in the first place]].
* ''Series/BurnNotice'' has a few, although the show tends to focus on other kinds of criminals. The most notable is John Barrett (played by RobertPatrick), the head of a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors private security firm]] who finances corrupt governments and terrorists.
* 90% of villains of the week in ''WhiteCollar'' are this, due to the nature of the show.
* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' has Sid Barry (under the name Sam Profit) run [=TransGalactic=], a large shipping company. He has tons of skeletons in his closet, and Beka is determined to expose him. Later on, he tries to run for public office. When Beka decides to release proof that Sid is a murderer and a smuggler, he laughs and reveals that this information is already public but was twisted into making him look sympathetic.
* ''TowerPrep'' is apparently run by a board of these.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjGASsP2co0 The song]] of the page quote.
* Music/IronMaiden's "El Dorado" is mostly told through the point of view of one of those.
** As is UFO's "A Self Made Man".
* The eponymous character of RayStevens' "Mr. Businessman."
-->"You can wheel and deal the best of them/Steal it from the rest of them/You know the score/Their ethics are a bore."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* In the '80s, Ted DiBiase was one of the early examples of this trope in nationally televised wrestling. He was billed as the "Million Dollar Man" and paid Andre the Giant to win the WWF championship only to sell it to him immediately after the match. When the bought title was not recognized by the WWF, he declared himself the Million Dollar Champion and created his own Million Dollar Belt. He was also something of a Dastardly Whiplash, as at times he would engage in evil behaviour with no personal gain whatsoever, such as when he offered a young child $100 if he could dribble a basketball ten times without dropping it, then kicked the ball out of the child's hands half way through.
* Vince McMahon played the part for most of the late '90s in the WWF, with his counterpart Eric Bischoff playing the same part in WCW. A decade later, both were doing the same schtick in the merged Wrestling/{{WWE}}. Paul Heyman later picked it up in the [[{{Revival}} revived]] ECW.
** Bischoff and HulkHogan teamed up against Jay Leno and [[DiamondDallasPage DDP]] once. They got both pwned by Leno and his partner (who won with the help of Kevin Eubanks).
* After his run in APA, Bradshaw became JohnBradshawLayfield (or "JBL") and, playing off his legitimate success in the stock market, became a J.R. Ewing-inspired robber baron who did anything he could to capture and then keep the WWE Championship, keeping a stranglehold on the belt for nine months before losing to rising star JohnCena. JBL often belittled anyone below his perceived class status and often threw his money around to get what he wanted. This was exemplified in his early 2009 run when he employed a broke ShawnMichaels to help him take the WWE Championship from Cena.
* Most recently, JohnLaurinaitis is the current general manager of both WWERaw and SmackDown, is depicted as the leader of an evil outfit known as "People Power," which consists of Laurinaitis, David Otunga, Eve Torres, and the Big Show.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* Matt Crawford from ''TheArchers'' embodied this trope pre-VillainDecay.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* A flashback sequence in Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG revealed a story involving two such people going head-to-head. Uærlig Sindstorme, CEO of Mindstorms, Inc., decides to hire a team of small-time crooks to do dirty work against rival Dacta Corp. in order to lessen their competition. Meanwhile, Edward Korrupte, CEO of Dacta Corp., hires infamous assassin Silencia Venomosa to infiltrate Mindstorms, Inc. The results are... [[{{Understatement}} not pretty]].
** Implied to be the case with Mr. Bonaparte. He prescribes his patients with "classified" medications, but we have not seen anyone at Napoleon XIV Mental Institution whose mental health has improved under his supervision. Napoleon XIV also has a history of security issues, and he is willing to lie about them to avoid bad press.
** Dr. Walter Breen also has many traits of a Corrupt Corporate Executive, especially in his days as administrator of Brick League United. Like Edward Korrupte, he was willing to hire Silencia Venomosa to take down his competition.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''[[http://misspentyouthgame.com/ Misspent Youth]]'' by Robert Bohl, if the group creates a Corporate villain, then it will no doubt include corrupt and rotten [=CEOs=]. It's a game where you play bomb-throwing anarchist teenagers who are out to upend a Dystopia that has it out for them personally.
* Anyone in a CEO position at Pentex in ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse''. Those not in the know merely believe that the company plays fast and loose with environmental regulations and human rights laws to deliver cheap-to-produce product to a demanding audience. Those in the Inner Circle know that the company is actually an extension of [[EldritchAbomination the Wyrm, the universal embodiment of decay and corruption]] and that their products are [[MayContainEvil stuffed full of Bane spirits that play on humanity's negative emotions]] -- and they don't care if the company makes a profit or not, because they're all licking the Wyrm's filth-encrusted boots.
** Technically, anyone not in the know shouldn't realize Pentex even exists as an entity; it should just look like a bunch of shady but independent companies that are all in each others' pockets.
* ''{{Orpheus}}'', also from the OldWorldOfDarkness, has a number of standout examples among the ghost-tech corporations: the drug-manufacturing head of Terrel & Squib, the ex-blood diamond baron that leads the mercenaries of Next World, and [[spoiler:the unethical experimenting of the founders of Orpheus itself]]. The corebook also wryly notes Orpheus' complex backs up to one of Pentex's.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} 2020'' has the character class "Corporate". While you are not ''required'' to be corrupt, is there really any fun in role playing a normal executive?
* The various corporations and megacorporations that run much of the show in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}''.
** Out of all the Corps in the Sixth World, Aztechnology takes the cake. Not only are they the largest practitioners of BloodMagic in the world (A type of magic ''so evil'' that before [[spoiler:Dunkelzahn sacrificed himself to fuel a Mana-Absorbing Artifact]], ''every spell a blood mage cast'' would bring the EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt a bit closer),but the board of directors also has connections with [[EldritchAbomination The Horrors]]! They've come incredibly close to having an [[NukeEm Omega Order]] called out on them by the Corporate Court, but their [[VillainWithGoodPublicity squeaky clean public image]] has allowed them to prosper. After all, who would believe that the company behind the [[PredatoryBusiness Stuffer Shack]] would want to bring about the end of the world?
* The Chrysalis Corporation in ''CthulhuTech'' takes it to a whole new level, insofar as their Director is actually ''Nyarlathotep''. Don't think anyone else is gonna be toppin' ''that'' one any time soon.
* ''ForgottenRealms'' in its CloakAndDagger lore has a lot of big traders and merchant cabals ranging from unscrupulous to [[TheMafia mafia]]-like to fiendish.
* ''{{Eberron}}'' has many opportunities for this, since the dragonmarked houses are essentially [[{{Magitek}} magical]] [[MegaCorp Zaibatsu]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* Friedrich Dürrenmatt's dark comedy, ''FrankTheFifth'' is about a bank which is owned and operated by solely such people. The bank uses all kinds of illegal methods, and routinely has customers and employees murdered.
* Shylock is this in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'', regardless of whether you consider him to be a sympathetic character or not. His love for his daughter is hopelessly confused with his love for his money, and his attempt at vengeance takes the form of a legal bond made over money. Creator/GKChesterton regarded the play as "a medieval satire on usury...[T]he moral is that the logic of usury is in its nature at war with life, and might logically end in breaking into the bloody house of life. In other words, if a creditor can always claim a man's tools or a man's home, he might quite as justly claim one of his arms or legs."
* The board of directors of General Products in ''TheSolidGoldCadillac'', composed of four stuffed shirts named T. John Blessington, Alfred Metcalfe, Warren Gillie and Clifford Snell.
* Caldwell B. Caldwell from the Broadway play ''{{Urinetown}}'' set 20 minutes into the future in a world with a severe water shortage. His company forces people to pay steep fees to use public restrooms (the only kind that exist anymore), and arrests anybody caught peeing without paying. [[spoiler:A subversion in that as soon as he's overthrown everyone dies since his policies actually kept the water shortage from getting out of control.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'', the game series that lets you ''play'' a Corrupt Corporate Executive.
* The ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' series runs off of this trope
* ''ActOfWar'''s Consortium is a bunch of corrupt business executives who use terrorism as an excuse to jack up oil prices, and also happen to finance several terrorist organisations.
* ''ArmyOfTwo'' combines this trope with PrivateMilitaryContractors in the form of [[spoiler:the heroes' own military corporation, SSC, whose leadership is plotting to privatize the United States military so they can take over the country.]]
* The villains of ''BaldursGate'' is the Iron Throne trading company which just wants to make a shitload of money, but it's later revealed that the adopted son of the local leader is [[BatmanGambit just using them]] for his [[AGodAmI much grander scheme]].
** It is worth noting that (being a DungeonsAndDragons game set in the ForgottenRealms) the Iron Throne is invoked as being a largely LawfulEvil organization in-universe.
* Crey Industries in ''CityOfHeroes'', which has its own black ops teams and engages in kidnappings, employee brainwashing, and shakedowns regularly (then bribes the judges or claims "rogue employee" when caught in the act). Alarmingly, a lot of the technology that keeps [[CityOfAdventure the city]] running smoothly was built and sold by them, [[VillainWithGoodPublicity making them seem more respectable to the public]] than they really are.
** Kirk Cage runs a ruthless mining group called the Cage Consortium in the ''CityOfVillains'' that works its miners to death- causing said miners to rebel, with [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower strength gained from sheer force of will]].
* ''CriticalDepth'' has both Dana Nagel, CEO of Mondred Corp, who plans to use the mysterious [[PlotCoupon Pods]] to exploit for profit, and Sebastion Titan, head of Titan Industries, whose plans border on downright [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]].
* The [[MegaCorp WEC]] is the big bad in the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' series of games. If you are a bad guy and not a [[HumongousMecha robot]] or a [[{{Mooks}} soldier]], you are a CorruptCorporateExecutive. 'No exceptions''. The office politics would make Machiavelli have a nervous breakdown.
* Bob Page is ''VideoGame/DeusEx'''s Corrupt Corporate Executive VillainWithGoodPublicity, taking [[RefugeInAudacity refuge in the unlikelihood of anyone digging]] [[AGodAmI deeper]].
** David Sarif from ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' is a downplayed version, coupled with a healthy dose of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: While he does and orders some ''very'' shady things (such as [[spoiler:purposely sticking a bunch of unnecessary military augs into Adam to make him his own private killer cyborg, his covert investigation of Adam's past, and refusing to let police rescue hostages in one of his factories so his private killer cyborg can keep corporate secrets away from the public eye]]), he's shown to be a benevolent idealist at heart and genuinely believes that what he's doing is for the benefit of all humanity. [[spoiler:Zhao Yun Ru]] is a straight example, though.
* Arius of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 2'' , who seeks and wields demonic power for world domination while publicly the head of the international Uroboros corporation.
* The Shinra Electric Power Company in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', with the exception of Reeve. Shinra's main industry in the game seems more "World Domination" than "Electric Power". Or "Weapons Manufacturer" before even that.
* Genevive Aristide and her company, Armacham Technology Corporation, from ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'', are so corrupt that they have no qualms with murdering their own employees in sight of federal agents and then killing those same agents with uniformed security guards. Nor do they hesitate to arrange for a nuclear explosion in the middle of a large, populated city - and this is just the ''cover-up'' for ''even worse'' things they've done.
** That bitch is even responsible for the DownerEnding of the second game! At some point, you begin to wonder if [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Alma]] is the BigBad, or ''she'' is. Alma going on her RoaringRampageOfRevenge is her fault, to a degree.
*** And Harlan Wade's.
* Adrian Ripburger in adventure game ''FullThrottle'' is another example of a villainous ''vice''-exec with a [[CoolOldGuy benign]] [[UnclePennybags superior]]. Since he murders said superior and takes his place relatively early in the game, however, the distinction is probably moot.
* The Korx in ''GalacticCivilizations'' are the literal embodiment of this stereotype -- the government and the whole planet are run by one company. So when you play as their leader, technically you are a CEO. Ironically the system works well: everything they have is capital and hence valueable (although they are max evil). Unfortunately their neighbors are externalities...
* Similarly, the Morganites of ''SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' operate as a collective of businesses under their leader who is, by default, titled [=CEO=]. While not instrinsically evil like the Korx, the faction ''can'' be played as amorally as you, the [=CEO=], desire.
** Technically Morgan got aboard the ''Unity'' illegally, having his people install a secret [[HumanPopsicle cryo-pod]] on the ship. He justifies it by saying that, as a major contributor into the construction of the ''Unity'', he, technically, owns part of it.
* In the ''Civ''-clone ''CallToPower'' series, one of the government models you discover in the Modern Age is the Corporate Republic, where corporations assume the role of government agencies. So once again, if you're evil and head the main business in charge of the government...
* A large number of characters in the {{VideoGame/Hitman}} series are either this or [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Corrupt Corporate Executive]]. Special mention goes to Sheriff Skurky and Blake Dexter from Absolution.
* Goldman from ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'' initially appears to be one of these, but then he turns out to be [[OmnicidalManiac much]] [[MadScientist more]].
* The Glukkons in the ''{{Oddworld}}'' game series are similar to the aforementioned Druuge -- a species of out-of-control capitalists. Their lives revolve around harvesting the animals on their planet, processing them, and selling them as snack food. By the time of the first game, ''Abe's Oddyssee'', they've driven one race into extinction (the Meeches) and the others are rare. Thus, they turn on their slave race, the Mudokons, and [[ImAHumanitarian attempt to turn them into their next product]]. In the second game, ''Abe's Exoddus'', they've taken to making a soft drink from Mudokon ''bones and tears''.
** ''[[OddworldStrangersWrath Stranger's Wrath]]'' gives us Sekto, the owner of Sekto Springs, a water bottle selling company that made a dam around the Mongo River region, damaging the wasteland and making life difficult for the native Grubbs.
* Chairman Drek, the BigBad of ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank Ratchet & Clank]]'', had a far-reaching, [[PlanetLooters planet-looting]] scheme for making endless profits, the thwarting of which was Clank's sole motivation throughout the first game.
** And then there's Gleeman Vox from ''RatchetDeadlocked''.
* Mitsuko Isurugi from ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars Original Generation 2'' is able to plan with all sides except for the Einst, simply because all sides know that she will only look out for herself, and wants the war to continue so she can profit off of it. The only reason she doesn't work for the Einst is because they're {{Eldritch Abomination}}s and she can't make money off of them.
* Wario's role in the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series is as one of these, but as an ''AntiHero''' rather than a villain. He's a lazy, greedy bastard with terrible hygiene problems, but the RuleOfFunny and RuleOfFun get him a free pass via his microgames.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'''s BigBad is Nicole Horne, head of the Aesir Corporation, a member of the [[AncientConspiracy Inner Circle]], the twisted mind behind the nightmare drug Valkyr, and the one behind the murder of the title character's wife and baby girl.
* The planet Noveria in ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' exists as a place for {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s to operate and perform research outside the bounds of Citadel law.
** [=ExoGeni=] Corp is in charge of the colony on Feros where [[spoiler: it conducts experiments on the colonists, allowing the telepathic Thorian creature to exercise its control over them so its researchers can observe the effects. After Shepard's intervention, [=ExoGeni=] attempts to wipe out the entire colony.]] Later in the game, [=ExoGeni=] employees' experiments with Thorian creepers lead to disaster after the Feros mission when the creatures go berserk and kill most of them. The last surviving researcher attempts to bribe Shepard to prevent her arrest.
** The ultimate evil executive in the ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' universe: Nassana Dantius who is implied to have her employees murdered if they leave before the expiration of their contract, and has them all murdered out of paranoia in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''.
-->"Tell your assassin to aim for the head... 'cause she doesn't have a heart."
** Miranda Lawson's ArchNemesisDad is one of the wealthiest businessmen in the entire galaxy, but his role in the actual story is more that of a MadScientist.
** Then there's Donovan Hock, a wealthy businessman (arms dealer) and patron of the arts on Bekenstein. Taking him down is the goal in Kasumi's loyalty mission.
* And before Noveria, BioWare worked this trope through ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' with Czerka. Two planets worth of slavery, genocide, environmental damage, and other shady practices. A light-side PlayerCharacter can scam them mercilessly and get away with it. In the sequel, they're at it again, trying to screw over Telos, getting cozy with the Exchange (mobsters), and the local rep overrunning the place with mercenaries and paid thugs to subvert the Telosian Security Force.
* The Umbrella Corporation in ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''. Notably, when the government finally had evidence of Umbrella's misdeeds in the TimeSkip before ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', they destroyed the company by freezing their business practices, crashing their stock price and driving them into bankruptcy - it doesn't matter how powerful a corporation you are, if you can't do business, you die.
** And [[spoiler:the shadowy Other Corporation Albert Wesker works for. And the Raccoon City Police Department. And most of the S.T.A.R.S management. And really any organisation in the Resident Evil games.]]
* Perennial villain of the [[Videogame/HammerinHarry ''Daiku no Gensan'' / ''Hammerin' Harry'']] series, Hyosuke Kuromoku. Not coincidentally, his company uses modern-style construction workers, while hero Genzo/Harry is a traditional Japanese carpenter, and heroine Kanna is the heir to the company that employs him.
* The entire Zaibatsu Corporation in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoII''.
* ''{{Persona 3}}'' has Tanaka, whose Social Link is The Devil and spends his time with the player talking about doing shady business (but not before making the protagonist pay him as an "investment"), though his interactions with the [[MessianicArchetype Main Character]] will encourage him to consider philanthropic work, if only for the purpose of having the people he may potentially help owe him.
* ''SaintsRow2'' and ''RedFaction'' had the Ultor corporation. Doing anything to earn a buck off Stillwater's middle and wealthy classes, they will not hesitate to exploit workers, start gang wars and bring in heavily armed men to protect investments.
* Master Zilla of Zilla Enterprises from ''ShadowWarrior''. His forays into evil sorcery and his plans to take over Japan with his summoned monsters was what prompted Lo Wang to quit the corporation. When Zilla tried to [[ContractOnTheHitman have Lo Wang killed]], Lo Wang took the fight to him.
* The Druuge from ''StarControl II'' are a whole PlanetOfHats of {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. Marriages are entirely based on contracts, and any offspring who reach maturity are forced to pay a percentage of their income to their parents. Every member of the race works for the Crimson Corporation, which owns ''everything'' on all Druuge-occupied planets, including air. Thus, anyone who is laid off from the Crimson Corporation is accused of poaching company property, and either executed or sent to be used as crew/[[PoweredByAForsakenChild emergency fuel]] on a Mauler-class spaceship. All the while, the Druuge are trying to stab each other (and other races) in the back and claw their way to the top of the corporate pyramid.
* Avery Carrington from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'', also a CorruptHick. He's not an antagonist though, being this a criminal simulator [[GrayAndGrayMorality with allies and rivals rather than good and evil]].
** Carrington also mentored Donald Love, who played this role in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII''. They even have similar dialogue between the two games.
* Adrian [=DeWinter=] and the executives of [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Artemis Global Security]] in ''Creator/TomClancy's VideoGame/{{HAWX}}''. After getting contract with Brazil to fight Las Trinidas and fought a battle to defend Rio, the US intervened, making the stocks drop, so after a while, [=DeWinter=] accepts deal from Las Trinidas (because [[EvilPaysBetter it pays better]]) and launched an all-out assault on USA, trying to assassinate the president, disabling country's missile defence system, and trying to nuke the country.
* Were it not for Edward Diego trying to cover up his corrupt antics, [[VideoGame/SystemShock SHODAN]] would have just sat and quietly run Citadel Station.
* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', Montoli ran the show in Fourside, and it was hinted he made a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with Giygas]] to gain so much power. Many citizens complained the abuse of his power ruined their lives.
* ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Platinum]]'': [[spoiler: Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic]]. He runs a huge corporation, and that is a facade for the true plan to [[spoiler: make him a deity]]. Could also be considered a severe case of AGodAmI.
** [[spoiler:The CEO of Altru Corp. in ''VideoGame/PokemonRanger: Shadows of Almia'' is also the head of Team Dim Sun. The two are nigh-completely parallel - just replace "oil power" with "Pokémon power". Similarly, in ''XD'', Mr. Verich is an obscenely rich man bribing the sailors of Gateon Port, and is likely the man who made a load of Poké through the mines under Pyrite Town. Given he's the man in charge of Cipher, doesn't it make more sense that he'd finance the construction of Realgam Tower, which served as Evice/Es Cade's base of operations in ''Colosseum''?]]
* Ayano of ''ArTonelico'' is introduced as one of these, as the head of the villainous Tenba Corporation. [[spoiler:It turns out she's ''not'', and everything bad about the company is actually Bourd's fault. Once he's out of the way, she makes sure it's reformed.]]
* Chief Blank from ''SpaceChannel5'' is a loon who'll do anything to get high ratings, including brainwash the masses.
* Heihachi and Kazuya Mishima from the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series probably count. Jinpachi was a benevolent CEO, but Heihachi quickly corrupted it, and Kazuya was even worse (e.g. smuggling endangered animals, which brought Jun Kazama into the picture).
* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}''. The city was practically built for these guys. Fontaine and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Sinclair]] stand out.
** ''VideoGame/{{BioShock Infinite}}'' gives us another example with Jeremiah Fink, a cruel and unforgiving Robber Baron who basically controls all of Columbia's industry and maintains it with what amounts to little more as a slave labour force.
* In ''{{Spore}}'', a player can evolve their species into one of these by sticking in the middle path (getting either three or all blue cards) as the Trader archetype, which the game defines "... are in it for the profit; their allegiance is to the almighty sporebuck". This idea really can be played out, in which a trader empire will generally have lowered prices for all general purchases and colony tools, as well as to have the cash infusion super power (which doesn't have a penalty with local empires), which simply allows the progress bar for a system's trade to fill up instantly, allowing you to buyout the planet if you have the cash. Factor it in with the ability to farm spice and the fact that only [[ScaryDogmaticAliens zealot]] and [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior]] type empires (as well as the [[BigBad the Grox]]) are your only sworn enemies, you can take over a large chunk of the galaxy just through simple exploration and trade and never even have to fight until you're strong enough to do so. And they say money doesn't talk...
* Dravis of the MegaCorp PTMC in the ''{{Descent}}'' series.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Oiligarchy}}'', you get to play as one of these, running an oil company that engages in every ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}''-worthy crime imaginable.
* Uncle Richard from ''ModNationRacers''.
* The recent "King of the Dwarves" quest of ''RuneScape'' has the dwarves think the Consortium is that. The ultimate reason for that is the death of two miners in a cave-in, [[spoiler:as the Consortium's forces, the Black Guard, was too busy saving the machines damaged in the same terrorism-based explosion to help them.]] The trope isn't played straight - [[spoiler:the decision was necessary to avoid further disasters caused by the city's power supply being destroyed.]] This doesn't help with preventing all the civil unrest.
* Reaver in ''VideoGame/FableIII'', the CEO of Reaver Industries. While his business ethics are already atrocious (destroying the environment and actively using child labor), Reaver himself, in his first cutscene of the game [[BadBoss shows how he stomps out union protestors]].
* [[VideoGame/{{Portal 2}} Aperture Science CEO Cave Johnson]] [[PosthumousCharacter apparently fits]] this to a T, especially in his later years when he had to resort to putting his own employees through tests, though he stands out mostly for being a CloudCuckoolander and CrazyAwesome.
* Armstech and its president Kenneth Baker from the first ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''.
* Henry Leland, Chief of Development of ''AlphaProtocol'''s Halbech, inc. His character design and voice job appears to have been custom-tailored to make him look and sound as much as a corporate sleazebag as humanly possible, to say nothing of [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking his smoking habits]].
* Thonar Silverblood and Maven Black-Brair in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. The former owns Cidhna Mine, the largest silver mining operation in Markarth, and has an agreement with the city guard where any ciminals arrested in Markarth can be forced to work in the mine as slave labor. He also hires mercenaries to sieze control of rival mines in the area so their owners are forced to sell to him. The latter controls Riften's mead industry, and regularly hires the thieves' guild to sabotage her competitors and put them out of business.
* Rich Dotcom in ''MegaManStarForce 2''. His diabolical plan to take over a hotel is to fake accidents ''and'' yeti sightings, thereby driving away customers until the owner has no choice but to sell! [[spoiler:Naturally, the ''actual'' villains are using him like a chump for reasons that aren't really explained all that clearly.]]
* Trade Prince Gallywix of ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' in spades. When the volcano above Bilgewater Port began to erupt, he extorted a fortune from his own cartel for the right to board his ship. Once onboard, he locked them all in chains as his slaves. His later betrayal on the Lost Isles was not a surprise, but the fact that Thrall let him live and continue to lead the Cartel was.
** In fact, the Goblin player character is for the most part portrayed as a Corrupt Corporate Executive in the starting quests. Whether his/her experiences escaping from Kezan and the Lost Isles have changed him/her is left up in the air...
** It can be argued that any Goblin in ''World of Warcraft'' with any authority whatsoever is a Corrupt Corprate Executive or a merchant trying to be one someday, or at least those who aren't already a MadScientist or a PointyHairedBoss, with rare exceptions.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'' with [[spoiler: Deus's Reincarnation, who takes time out of his work schedule to help an old man (Who is the emperor he ironically killed in his past life who reincarnated as well) cross a busy street. Olga is his SexySecretary.]]
* Cassandra de Vries in ''PerfectDark'', and Zhang Li in ''Perfect Dark Zero'', both CEO of [[MegaCorp dataDyne]].
* The Bankster skillpath in ''VideoGame/DungeonsOfDredmor'' is all about weaponizing the various shady dealings associated with this trope.
-->'''Skillpath description:''' "There's nothing an adventurer can't face with a bunch of derivatives, a diversified stock portfolio, and absolutely no morals whatsoever"
* Handsome Jack, the main villain of ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' is CEO of Hyperion Corporation and to put it lightly, an egotistical maniac who declares practically everyone on Pandora a bandit (even those who aren't actually bandits) and a despot who is pointlessly cruel to everyone [[ForTheEvulz for kicks and giggles]].
* ''VideoGame/RealityOnTheNorm'': Yathzee, the owner of the company "Yathzeebrand", which is known, among other things, for brainwashing its employees and demanding them to nearly worship the CEO.
* ''TachyonTheFringe'' has the Galactic Spanning Corporation (AKA [=GalSpan=]), the most powerful MegaCorp in both Sol and the Fringe. The Fringe branch is run by Regional Director Gustav Atkins. The main story arc involves [=GalSpan=] moving into the Bora area of space in order to claim its resource-rich [[AsteroidMiners asteroids]]. Atkins uses a [[LoopholeAbuse legal loophole]] to obtain legal rights to those regions (apparently, the ancestors of the Bora never bothered to file for permission to settle in a far-away area of space). Not only does Atkins use his ArmyOfLawyers to force Bora colonists to leave, he then hires mercenaries to attack those who refuse or are a bit too slow in leaving (yes, including firing on unarmed shuttles). Sabotage is also not out of the question. Whichever CCE runs the Sol branch is also responsible for blowing up a hospital in order to hide the accidental release of a deadly virus. If you take the side of the Bora and win the campaign, Atkins is fired by his bosses.
* Rolf Klink from ''VideoGame/{{Ambition}}''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* Richard, the CEO of Nanotech in ''VisualNovel/BionicHeart'', bribes the police into pursuing Tanya (the main character's android love interest) as a fugitive, illegally manufactures androids, and worst of all [[spoiler:preserves people’s bodies so that he may place their brains into android bodies to do his bidding]].
* The CEO of [[spoiler:Cradle Pharmaceuticals]] in ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors''. [[spoiler:Hongou recreated the Nonary Game to research telepathy, this time using children as the participants.]]
* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' brings us Redd White of Bluecorp in Case 1-2.
** And Kane Bullard in Case 3-2 ... except he's kinda dead before you meet him. He was one of these before hand though. I'll pinkyswear!
** ''Ace Attorney Investigations'' has [[spoiler:Ernest Amano, part of [[BigBad Quercus Alba]]'s smuggling ring, and a doting father [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney who tried to use his vast fortune to stop the police from finding evidence to convict his son Lance]] (who was indeed the guilty party).]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Every member of [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Hereti Corp]] in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' is one of these. Their company goal ''is'' world domination, after all.
** And now there's brutal industrialist Crustro and MadScientist Dr. Nofun, of their own corporations.
* Morguase in the modern arc of ''ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' is a mild example. [[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0997.htm And Arthur's trying to convince her to be even less of one]].
* The shorthand for this in ''MandatoryRollerCoaster'' is old, bald, white men in navy blue suits.
* Mr. Kornada, from ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', is willing to use his (temporary) authority at Ecosystems Unlimited to pervert a program intended to address an issue with the robots on Jean purely for the sake of personal profit, even if the perversion would effectively wipe out over 450 million sapient (if robotic) beings and turn them into mindless automatons, and could well doom the colony that relies on those beings for {{terraforming}}.
* Anyone that works for FOX in ''AnsemRetort'' but particularly Ansem and Vexen. They secured the rights to ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' '''just''' to remind people of how evil they are.
* Any member of Tera Corp from ''AntiheroForHire'' almost certainly qualifies. However, it is worth noting that they have had a good amount of infighting. It would seem that one CorruptCorporateExecutive is not loyal to any other one.
* The RIAA in ''QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger''..... who are the real life RIAA, [[UpToEleven drawn out to their logical conclusion.]] They were so avaricious that they took to scanning dying people's brains on the grounds that their ''memories'' contained copyrighted materials. It did not end well for them.
* ''{{Vexxarr}}'' used "[[http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=121905 Is this the same Sony that..?]]" query for EvenEvilHasStandards joke.
* The three directors of the Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' are all styled after executives of hip new startup companies, using coorporate buzzwords ('A community-based grassroots organization dedicated to building bridges between the diabolic, daemonic and demonic populations') and adding [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope disclaimers to their offers for souls]], and they are directors of the IFCC, complete with business cards. While they make for a good CrowningMomentOfFunny, they are still fiends [[DealWithTheDevil and will screw you over with their deals]].
* Mr Bunny, the Hoppy Computer Guy, Dark Lord of Microsoft {{Expy}} Ubersoft in ''HelpDesk'', along with his doubles at SCO and the RIAA. Being evil is what Ubersoft is ''about''. That's why they've never had more than one help desk employee authorized to actually help people at any time (and he quit).
* In ''{{Sinfest}}'', several characters such as Mickey Mouse, Characters/BugsBunny, Tom the Cat. Homer Simpson and Charlie Brown [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2973 appear as leaders of different major crime families]], with the Devil as ruling Don of the Five Families.
* In ''KevinAndKell'', there's R.L., CEO of Herd Thinners, later joined by his wife (Kevin's ex) Angelique. Angelique seems to be the more corrupt of the two, as she did sell out the rest of the rabbits and is more scheming, while R.L.'s corruptness is tempered by, of all tropes, BrilliantButLazy: he shot down both world conquest and a racketeering scheme because it'd be too much work.
** Ironically, the one time they ''were'' jailed (for overstating production), they were innocent of the crime (being set up by a disgruntled ex-employee as revenge for getting fired).
* TheAdventuresOfGynoStar features a shadowy cabal of corrupt corporate executives who plot to "eliminate" Gyno-Star for her meddling ways.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''TheOnion'': "[[http://www.theonion.com/articles/layoffs-are-necessary-if-we-want-to-keep-the-light,26250/ 'Layoffs Are Necessary If We Want To Keep The Lights On,' Says CEO Halfway Through Tasting Menu]]"
* Dr. Leonard J Alderman from ''LG15TheResistance'', who doesn't hesitate to steal, kidnap, or torture providing it furthers the company's aims. He claims to be doing the world a service, but it's pretty clear he's really only interested in making a profit.
* The Hasbro Guy from the sequel to ''ThreeInTheAfternoon'', who's behind convincing Lucas and his corporations to mass-produce and sell lightsabers.
* In ''ArcanaMagi'', Oryn Zentharis, Vyndor, and The Board of Directors of Avalon Tech Enterprises want to use the Sentinels to dominate the economy and control the world.
* Darryl Walcutt, in the WhateleyUniverse. He's suspected of belonging to the Brotherhood of the Bell. His daughter Tansy is the supervillainess Solange, and we know he has illegally used her [[PsychicPowers Psi talents]] for corporate espionage. And probably {{blackmail}}.
* Benjamin Palmer [[spoiler:and Lear Dunham]] from ''BrokenSaints''.
* ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' mocks this trope with the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise. Apparently the decades spent and trillions they've wasted trying to acquire the xenomorphs will somehow be balanced out by the amount they can make trying to sell them to the military industrial complex, assuming they can even be controlled.
* Tim Sullivan from ''Literature/AvalonsReign'' runs the corporation Sullivan Detainment, specializing in private prisons. He has no problem ordering the death of a politician who questions his business practices. On a smaller scale, Dirk Chambers, the manager of one of those prisons, is a drug addict who actually arranges for said politician's demise.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* "That Guy", an 80s executive [[NoNameGiven whose name we never learn]] (the script for the episode referred to him as "Steve Castle"), was a comic exaggeration of this trope on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''.
** The villain known as "Mom" is also a CCE trying to take over the world, who masquerades as a [[VillainWithGoodPublicity sweet, kindly old lady in public]].
** Parodied with Leo Wong, who is a compendium of every criticism ever levelled at corporations.
* Looten Plunder, from ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'', was of this type. He was also the only villain on the show whose motive for pillaging the Earth was all that plausible, most of the others having fantastic motives (Duke Nukem physically thrived on radiation) or doing it out of sheer malice.
** Hoggish Greedly was of the slovenly CorruptHick type. He didn't seem show outright malice for the environment, he usually just didn't care about it, and his motives were centered in obtaining vast amounts of money and resources as fast as possible.
** Sly Sludge was a corrupt exec who focused on waste disposal (that is, dumping absurd amounts of toxic waste and garbage wherever), and was sleazy and sneaky. He often ran operations that would shrink garbage or compact it or incinerate it, but they either were fake or they backfired severely.
** About 50% of Dr. Blight's evil schemes revolved around making herself famous, rich or preferably both, including more than once when she teams up with one of the above characters for some malignant corporate venture. She usually supplies the hyper-advanced tech they need to do their thing. The other 50%, on the other hand, were messing up the environment for the heck of it.
* Plutarkian Lawrence Lactavius Limburger from the original 1993 ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars'' series disguises himself as one of these in order to fulfill his people's mission as PlanetLooters.
** The revival had Ronaldo Rump, a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed parody of famed industrialist Donald Trump, who teamed up with the BigBad Catatonians to further his business empire. He has a cousin named Sir Richard Brand Something.
* Derek Powers from the first season of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' typifies this trope. His son, Paxton, who later takes over his company, is pretty corrupt too, but is not nearly as competant as a villain.
** SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor in both ''WesternAnimation/{{Ruby-Spears Superman}}'' and '' WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' as well.
** Mercy Graves takes over [=LexCorp=] when Luthor is outed as a criminal in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', and manages to bring it back into solvency by being not ''quite'' as corrupt as Luthor (or possibly just less maniacal).
** Roland Daggett from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.
** Ferris Boyle (also from Batman) is one of these as well; being responsible for turning Victor Fries into Mr. Freeze and supposedly killing his wife, Nora. Bonus for being voiced by MarkHamill, before he became The Joker.
** Grant Walker (again from Batman), who blackmails Mr. Freeze into trying to make him immortal.
** Maxie Zeus (Batman again) is also depicted as a corporate executive who... well... [[SanitySlippage went a little nuts]] after his stock crashed. The reason he became insane was because his success in crime made him think he was untouchable and godlike.
* Eric Raymond from ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}''.
* Interestingly, in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', Drakken's two plans that came closest to succeeding involved becoming this, first over Bueno Nacho, and the second over Hank's Gourmet Cupcakes (everyone associated Dr. D with shampoo for some reason).
* Cyril Sneer from ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'', but the trope is gradually subverted as the series progresses as he eventually grows a conscience and his principled son, Cedric, eventually takes over the business as a partner.
** Milton Midas on the other hand, is a much more straight example, as his actions of disposing toxic waste cause a lake to become contaminated.
* Mr. Burns in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. He's dumped radioactive waste at public parks and playgrounds, sold weapons to the Nazis, stolen a trillion dollars in foreign aid money from the U.S. government, and (most famously) built a giant sun-blocking device to keep Springfield shrouded in perpetual darkness, all so his electric company could have a truly ''complete'' monopoly over the town's energy supply.
** Russ Cargill from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie''. Although he's not so much corrupt, as his ultimate evil goal is to do his job. He's just slightly insane about the means to that end. Also the end.
* Mr. Krabs from ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' is a somewhat more lovable example.
* HP, the Head Pixie from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents''. He's voiced by Ben Stein (as are the other pixies) and has got to be ''the most boring creature'' in Fairyworld.
** On Earth, we have Doug Dimmadome, owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome, who engages in Robber Baron behavior when plot dictates.
*** He's not really that corrupt, [[ItMakesSenseInContext he just doesn't give a darn...]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/GravedaleHigh'' episode "Save Our School" had a hotel owner who calls herself The Empress, who wants to put a chain of her hotel where the school is, and even hires a health inspector in order to condemn it so she can have it torn down.
* Charles Foster Ofdensen of ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'', who is the [[ManBehindTheMan Man Behind the Band]], willing to have people killed and/or tortured (and sometimes [[BattleButler doing it himself]]) for the sake of Dethklok's (his "Bread and Butter" by his own words) career.
** Somewhat subverted, as there is actually a greater evil out there, The Tribunal. Ofdensen's just preventing them from killing Dethklok.
** James Grishnack, producer of Dethklok's movie "Blood Ocean" in Season 1, has a fitting line for this trope: "I've been fucking over celebrities since you were all shitting in diapers!"
** Season 3 has Damien. [[spoiler: He was the son of the executive that first signed Dethklok. He disliked death metal, and had a grudge against Nathan Explosion for punching him. Upon taking power from his ailing father, he cut off Dethklok's finances and shut down a concert in order to force Dethklok into signing a new contract, one that would give ''him'' the lion's share of profit. Only the [[BigDamnHeroes timely intervention]] [[FakingTheDead of the thought-dead Ofdensen]] stopped him, and he got punched by Nathan again for trying to attack Ofdensen.]]
** Also [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlzCfgWJ42w Dethharmonic]]:
->''I want to keep my money / And give away absolutely nothing''
->''To the government who moderates my spending / and obliterates depending on what time of the year''
->''brutality is near / in the form of income tax''
->''I'd rather take a fucking axe / to my face, blow up this place''
->''with you all in it, I'd do it in a minute / If I could write off your murder''
->''I'd save all of my receipts / because I'd rather you be dead''
->''than lose a tiny shred of what I made this fiscal year''
->''I'd rather you be dead than ponder parting with my second home''
->''I'd rather you be dead than consider not opening a restaurant''
->''I'd rather you be dead''
* Porter C. Powell from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. Just ask Sari Sumdac, who found herself kicked out of her own home as part of Powell's ''extremely'' hostile takeover of Sumdac Systems. He immediately rehires the clearly insane Henry Masterson, who had previously threatened to cause a nuclear meltdown on national TV, so he can break into the military market that Professor Sumdac [[TechnologicalPacifist kept the company out of]]. He then allows Masterson to steal Sentinel Prime's body and bails him out when he gets caught, on the basis that [[InhumanableAlienRights alien robots don't have rights]]. Don't worry, it all comes back to bite him.
-->'''Powell:''' There's no room for sentiment in business.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', Norman Osborn, [[VillainWithGoodPublicity respected]] Oscorp CEO, has no qualms about stealing others' designs or tipping off the series BigBad to competitors' product shipments. Worse still, he aides the BigBad by creating {{Supervillain}}s to pit against Spider-Man. In [[CutLexLuthorACheck exchange for furthur funding]], he and his [[MadScientist scientist]] [[PunchClockVillain flunkie]] perform [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup untested]], possibly [[FreakLabAccident fatal experiments]] on uninformed subjects in a ramshackle lab, hoping to create the ideal [[SuperSoldier supermercenary]]. He cares little if his subjects die, but if they go on criminal rampages, Oscorp gets contracted to develop containment methods. So much the better.
** This series version of Tombstone also is one.
* Mr. Boss from ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor''. (To make this ironic, three Sector V operatives (Numbahs Four, Three, and Two) have parents who work for his company, while [[spoiler: Numbuh 86 is his ''daughter''.]])
* The Cogs, the various MechaMooks from ''VideoGame/ToontownOnline'', are either this or a YesMan. So stuck-up that actually laughing damages them.
* The big-guy-versus-little-guy version is subverted by ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' in the "Gnomes" episode. Tweek's dad's coffee shop is threatened by the imminent arrival of a Starbucks-esque chain, and he conscripts the kids into encouraging the town to prevent this. However, the kids learn from the Underpants Gnomes that successful corporations often get that way because they have a better product. When the townsfolk actually try the chain's coffee, even Tweek's dad agrees it's far superior to what he was making, and the town relents.
** Much more recently is a evil, sadistic, foul-mouthed Mickey Mouse in the JonasBrothers episode who plays this trope straight.
* Dan Halen from ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}'' is not just an corrupt executive but an embodiment of pure evil whose company was founded to spread misery and death, going so far as to release a product called the Baby Death Trap.
** That was mostly so he could sue people referring to one of his other products as a "baby death trap", presumably under the guise of trademark protection (since the original product was probably too dangerous for a libel suit to hold up in court).
* Armando Gutierrez from ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}!'' knew about the flaw that gave Dexter powers but refused to recall his product because it would affect sales. He is both voiced by and obviously [[InkSuitActor physically modeled after]] Ricardo Montalban.
* WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck's foe the Liquidator was once Bud Fludd, the owner of a bottled water company who was poisoning his competitor's water supply. An accident turned him into a water controlling supervillain, but his old traits stick around-for example, he once flooded the city so he could sell "Liquidator Brand life rafts" at a ridiculously inflated price.
* Flintheart Glomgold, Scrooge's rival from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' (actually created by CarlBarks in [[AdaptationDisplacement the comics]]). He serves as an EvilCounterpart to Scrooge; Scrooge is also greedy, but unlike Glomgold, he's honest.
* W.C. Moore in ''WesternAnimation/LittleElvisJonesAndTheTruckstoppers'' owns the town the show is set in, and takes time out of his day to use his [[{{Unobtainium}} Berkonium]] [[EmpathicWeapon marble]] to [[KickTheDog beat kids at marbles and take theirs for himself]].
* [[Disney/TheJungleBook Shere Khan]] is recast as one of these in ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin''.
* Oroku Saki/The Shredder from ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' series is one of these. His supposed "office building" in New York is also the main headquarters of the Foot Clan. His adopted daughter, Karai, later inherits his position as CEO of his public corporation as well as head of the Foot Clan during his banishment at the end of one season.
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' when the title character and Wally become part owners of their company they meet the other [=CEOs=]. Reading back the minutes of the last meeting one informs them that "we gave each other stock options, discussed ways to ignore the needs of others and Hamilton had a racial joke."
* Lucius on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes''. Though, considering that [[MegaCorp Misery Inc. already runs the town anyway]], he's seen more as a dictator.
* Averted in ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons''. The large company Inventco is responsible for mass-producing the [[AIIsACrapshoot evil robotic hats]] which end up [[BadFuture enslaving humanity in one alternate timeline]], but it's strongly implied they had no idea that this would happen. The real villain is actually the original hat itself. Otherwise, Inventco does nothing but positive things, sponsoring school science fairs and giving aspiring inventors a chance to make it big.
* Stavros Garkos, the main villain of the animated series ''WesternAnimation/{{Hurricanes}}'', is the head of Garkos Enterprises and is usually seeking for dishonest ways to increase his wealth and/or turn his soccer team into world champions.
** The series also introduced a villain named Douglas Fir, whose character is similar to Garkos.
** Also in that series, when Napper Thompson's uncle died and left his fortune to him on the condition Napper never plays soccer again, Napper became the target of two villains who wanted to get the inheritance. One of the villains was the uncle's former business partner. [[spoiler:Napper lost the inheritance but fortunately it was revealed neither villain was the appointed next heir.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters'' episode "The Battle for Ghost Command" features a man who illegally dumps toxic waste at the city's sewers, unknowingly attracting ghosts until the Ghostbusters discovered the truth.
* Mr. Big from ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'', who is an evil executive who had a tendency to brainwash people.
* [[spoiler:Miles Axlerod]], the ''real'' BigBad of ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Cars 2]]''.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} in the ''WesternAnimation/GrandmaGotRunOverByAReindeer'' [[ChristmasEpisode holiday special]]: [[MeaningfulName Austin Bucks]] is misguided and the BigBad's original plot involves making a business deal with him, but he doesn't know about any of the villainous things she's done to achieve it and proves to be quite ethical.
* Magnacat in ''ComicBook/MonsterAllergy'' appears as this in his human persona.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeamoSupremo'''s Will 2 Wynn.
* David Xanatos from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''. He is, however, AffablyEvil and a loving family man so he's not as extreme as most examples.
* Ed Wuncler from ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks''.
* The newest version of ''YoohooAndFriends'' has the main characters start as this prior to their KarmicTransformation.
* Dr. Robotnik in ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog''.
* Bob Santino from ''WesternAnimation/{{Dogstar}}''. He was willing to destroy every dog on Earth so he could make a profit selling his robotic dogs.
* Gart Default from ''WesternAnimation/RobotAndMonster''.
* Carter Pewdterschmidt on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. Originally, he was just an idiotic ManChild who doesn't understand the world outside of business. Post-cancellation, he's just outright evil.
* ''WesternAnimation/RoswellConspiracies'' has Hanek, the head of a company called Intracom, and his rival Verhooven, both of whom are vampires.
[[/folder]]
----

* ''[[FanFic/JusticeLeagueOfEquestria Mare of Steel]]'' has Alexander Silversmith (basically LexLuthor as a pony); his first appearance has him arranging a bombing to destroy the facilities of one of his competitors, and he is powerful enough that when Rainbow Dash/ Supermare foils his plot, he passes it off as third party zealots trying to frame him and stall the economy.

--> '''Hades Vandein''': It's not unusual for bloodshed and lawsuits to happen over development and monopolizing of new technologies.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Oiligarchy}}'', you get to play as one of these, running an oil company that engages in every ''{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}''-worthy crime imaginable.

* In ''{{Oiligarchy}}'', you get to play as one of these, running an oil company that engages in every ''{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}''-worthy crime imaginable.

* Reacher Gilt from Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/GoingPostal''. Essentially John Galt from ''Atlas Shrugged'' reincarnated as a MagnificentBastard, he runs the Grand Trunk (essentially a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line pre-telegraph version of Western Union]]) and is willing to run the machines until they fall apart (and kill off the operators as needed) in the name of extra money. In fact, he's a con artist like Moist von Lipwig, the book's protagonist, but worse because he has more ambition and fewer scruples; it's eventually revealed he plans to run the company into the ''ground'' and buy it at rock-bottom prices under an alias, just to see if he can get away with it.
** Is that all you can think of? The man kills so many people he keeps a banshee around full-time as an assassin. In a city which has an Assassins' Guild. He stole the entire Grand Trunk and drove its inventors into poverty.

* Grossberg, the first head of Network 23 on ''MaxHeadroom'', is so archetypal that every Corrupt Corporate Executive since has, perhaps unintentionally (or indirectly, by way of Gordon Gekko of ''WallStreet''), paid him homage. Specific foibles of the character type that he manifested include an almost {{bishonen}} level of grooming, [[GoodHairEvilHair slicked-back hair]], and a severe facial tic.
* Ziktor of ''VRTroopers'' was essentially a Grossberg clone, with the added twist that he was also secretly a monstrous being from AnotherDimension.

* ''VideoGame/RealityOnTheNorm'': Yathzee, the owner of the company "Yathzeebrand", which is known, among other things, for brainwashing its employees and demanding them to nearly worship the CEO.

* Paul F. Tomkins from ''TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny'' who turns out to [[spoiler:actually be Satan.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[DissonantSerenity Now...]] comes the most [[ItAmusedMe entertaining part]]: '''''[[KickTheDog the wait]].''''']]

** The villain known as "Mom" is also a CCE, who masquerades as a [[VillainWithGoodPublicity sweet, kindly old lady in public]].

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the ''WesternAnimation/GrandmaGotRunOverByAReindeer'' [[ChristmasEpisode holiday special]]: [[MeaningfulName Austin Bucks]] is misguided and the BigBad's original plot involves making a business deal with him, but he doesn't know about any of the villainous things she's done to achieve it and proves to be quite ethical.
* Magnacat in ''MonsterAllergy'' appears as this in his human persona.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons''. The large company Inventco is responsible for mass-producing the [[AIIsACrapshoot evil robotic hats]] which end up [[BadFuture enslaving humanity in one alternate timeline]], but it's strongly implied they had no idea that this would happen. The real villain is actually the original hat itself. Otherwise, Inventco does nothing but positive things, sponsoring school science fairs and giving aspiring inventors a chance to make it big.

** Mercy Graves takes over [=LexCorp=] when Luthor is outed as a criminal in ''JusticeLeague'', and manages to bring it back into solvency by being not ''quite'' as corrupt as Luthor (or possibly just less maniacal).

** LexLuthor in both ''WesternAnimation/{{Ruby-Spears Superman}}'' and '' WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' as well.

* Damon in ''{{Enlightened}}'' is an example of this trope. Abaddonn is already shaping up to be a pretty nasty company on its own merits, added to which he is up to dodgy financial practices.