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This post was part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007. Voting has now closed and, in a close race, readers have chosen Chuck Prince as the best CEO departure of the year. Let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.

When looking back at 2007, there were some larger-than-life CEO departures that semi-rocked the business world and brought some investors to the realization of over-the-top compensation yet again. Let's look at a few and then you can decide the winner. Sound good?

First up comes Bill Ford, Jr., from the automotive industry. Under Ford's leadership, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) lost its way in terms of correctly forecasting what kind of vehicles customers actually wanted, in addition to becoming horribly leveraged. As soon as gas prices began shooting up, Ford Motor started spiraling down. Long-time Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) executive Alan Mulally was brought in to replace Ford as the automaker's CEO just in the nick of time. Ford Motor's expected profitability date with Ford now gone: 2009.

How about Bob Nardelli, formerly CEO of Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD)? Nardelli made global headlines by making tens of millions while leading Home Depot shares to the basement and apparently making all kinds of bad decisions that finally led to his ouster this year. On top of that, his severance package made a Brad Pitt paycheck seem like pennies, and Home Depot shareholders paid for it. Did Home Depot stakeholders get a voice in this corporate travesty? A small one, perhaps.

Then we have another CEO that made hundreds of millions in compensation (mostly stock options) while leading his company virtually nowhere. Terry Semel, who was hailed as Yahoo! Inc.'s (NASDAQ: YHOO) savior when he joined the company in 2001, appeared to ride the coattails of good decisions by his executive team but really didn't even know how to use the internet, according to many sources. Semel let Yahoo! get completely trounced by competitor Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo! is still reeling from the hit. When Semel was booted, he remained chairman and collected another over-the-top compensation package based on the opposite in performance.

Then we have Chuck Prince, the former CEO of financial services giant Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), who was hand-picked by financial legend Sandy Weill. Prince made some interesting acquisitions and performed at decent levels in some quarters during his four-year reign at the top of Citigroup, but when he risked a bunch in backing mortgage debt that then cratered as the housing market tanked this year, he was sacked out of the top position and became the fall guy, along with some of this staff who also left. Citigroup shares? They're stagnant and have been for a while.

So, who is your favorite pick for best CEO departure of 2007? Vote now!

Share the reasons for your pick of the best CEO departure in the comments, or let us know about any contenders we overlooked. Also be sure to see the rest of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007.