When a corporate executive begins to embrace the communication medium known as blogging, the world is generally a better place. In general, executives who blog are free from marketing censors and fluff that masks most corporate information -- from press releases to scripted quarterly results announcements.

Well, that is until one of them starts blogging anonymously in order to slam the competition and spread FUD all over the place. Mr. Mackey was caught red-handed this past summer posting anonymously to Yahoo!'s (NASDAQ: YHOO) finance message boards in relation to badmouthing natural food grocery competitor Wild Oats for a period of seven years. Mackey did not reveal that it was himself disparaging his competition at the same time Whole Foods Market (NYSE: WFMI), the company he founded in 1980, was considering a merger with its largest natural foods competitor.

When it was discovered what Mackey was doing, the FTC stepped in and halted the merger until it could assess what damage Mackey's postings might have had on Wild Oats in terms of financials. When a blog posting can shave off millions from a company's market valuation, serious questions come up on validity of what is said -- and this happened in Mackey's case. Fortunately for Mackey, the investigation did not take long and Whole Foods officially completed its Wild Oats buyout at the end of August.

Still, Mackey's goofy actions still stand as a representative piece of what some execs will do to trample on the competition in the faceless and nameless age of the internet. For his efforts, Mackey reduced his 2006 salary to $1 and reportedly sold his company stock portfolio to charity, saying that he didn't want to work "for the money" any longer. And then comes 2007's message board tirades. Mackey's back in town I suppose -- with a damaged rep and quite a bit less dough in his pocket.

Be sure to check out other Money Losers of 2007.