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They fell from some of the most powerful positions on earth.

In Pictures: 11 Top Bosses Who Got The Boot in 2008

The bloodletting in the c-suite started in 2007. It still hasn't stopped.

Another year goes by and more chief executives get the ax--probably more than in any previous year. People shook their heads when Charles Prince III at Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ) and Stanley O'Neal at Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ) got the boot in 2007. Now it look like they were lucky. They got out just in time.

Martin Sullivan of American International Group (nyse: AIG - news - people ) (let go in June), Kerry Killinger at Washington Mutual (nyse: WM - news - people ) (September) and Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEHMQ - news - people ) (leaving next month) are among the biggest names to be shown the door as a result of the economic crisis.

Their distinguished company includes James Cayne of the now-deceased Bear Stearns and Richard Syron and Daniel Mudd, the former CEOs of the mortgage buyers Freddie Mac (nyse: FRE - news - people ) and Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM - news - people ).

"There are two kinds of CEO firings," says Noel Tichy, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. "There are the crooks and there are the incompetents." This year the biggest departing names all fell into a gray area in between.

None was as corrupt as the executives embroiled in the infamous Enron and Tyco scandals of a decade ago, but you couldn't just say they were simply stupid either. CEOs in the financial services industry discovered that they had allowed their companies to take suicidal risks with other people's money based on bad or staggeringly incomplete information. Many of them have paid with their jobs.

In Pictures: 11 Top Bosses Who Got The Boot in 2008

Despite their prominence, these headline names compose just a small fraction of the 1,361 U.S. CEOs who left their jobs this year through November. That's up from 1,356 in all 12 months of last year. The final 2008 number may prove to be a record, beating the previous one of 1,478 set in 2006, according to data collected by the management consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

South Korea's central bank carried out its biggest interest rate cut ever Thursday, slashing borrowing costs by a full percentage point to a record low in a bid to stave off possible recession.

The Bank of Korea said it was slashing its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate to 3 percent from 4 percent during a regular policy meeting Thursday.

It was the fourth time for the bank to lower the rate in the past two months and exceeded the 0.75 percentage point emergency cut on Oct. 27, previously the largest one.

The rate has gone from 5.25 percent to 3 percent since the cycle of easing began on Oct. 9.

The previous record low for the bank's benchmark rate was 3.25 percent last seen in October 2005.

South Korea's economy slowed in the third quarter and economists are predicting it could falter further next year amid global economic weakness.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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OTTAWA (Reuters) - BCE Inc (nyse: BCE - news - people ), Canada's biggest telecom company, said Friday it has not received an offer from private equity funds to take a minority stake in the company now that their C$34.8 billion ($26.9 billion) leveraged buyout deal for all of BCE is in jeopardy.

There were reports Thursday that the buyers, led by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, were floating an alternative deal. One source told Reuters that it involved an C$8 billion to C$10 billion investment for a minority stake in the company, which would remain publicly listed.

"While it is BCE's policy not to comment on rumors or speculation, in the interest of its shareholders, BCE is today confirming that no such offer has been made," the company said in a statement Friday.

The buyout of BCE is on the brink of collapse after accountants ruled a week ago that the company that would emerge from the deal would fail a solvency test because of its huge debt load.

A positive solvency opinion from KPMG, BCE's accountants, is a condition for the deal to close on Dec. 11 as planned. Without it, the buyout is unlikely to proceed, BCE has said.

BCE said Friday that it continued to work with KPMG and the purchasers to satisfy closing conditions of the agreement. The buyers group also includes Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners and Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ) Global Private Equity.

Shares in BCE fell 0.8 percent, of 18 Canadian cents, to C$22.77 on the Toronto Stock Exchange Friday morning and 2 percent to $17.57 on New York in opening trade. ($1=$1.29 Canadian) (Reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by Peter Galloway)

Copyright 2008 Reuters, Click for Restriction