15 most costly mistakes in history

I think everyone has made some mistakes, both at work and in their personal lives, but the cost of human error can be a little hard to recover, at least in terms of the economy.

From a typo on an $80 million bill, to a $15 billion train order that didn’t go through, to a lottery ticket that was nearly lost forever, we uncovered the most costly mistakes of all time. I tried. The next time you enter a number incorrectly or throw something away and regret it later, you won’t be left with an exorbitant bill, unlike the millionaire’s mistake I introduced this time. Thank you for

Whether it’s a business mistake like selling stock at the wrong time or a rudimentary design flaw you unfortunately overlooked, here are the 15 most expensive mistakes ever made. So read on…

1. The French Railway Company Ordered the Wrong Train

15 billion euros

When the French railway company SNCF placed an order for 2,000 new rolling stock, it did not expect to make an expensive mistake that would embarrass its bosses – more than €50 million! ?

The mistake was uncovered when the carriages purchased turned out to be too wide for the platforms of most regional stations in France, and by then the rail company’s chances of getting a refund had passed. On top of that, in order to pass the new trains, I made a big blunder that I had to do construction work to expand the platform of the station.

So why did such a big blunder occur? The RFF of the Japanese National Railways gave the wrong ratio to the local railway companies, and because there was no coordination between the two, no one realized the mistake until it was too late. The ministers condemned France’s “irrational rail system”, but whatever the reason for the initial blunder, it was such a blunder that processes were in place to prevent it from happening again. I hope you are.

2. Multi-million pound bills for walkie-talkie skyscraper repairs

The Walkie-Talkie Building on Fenchurch Street in London has been controversial since its construction, with many people complaining that the unusually heavy top is “conspicuous” and “does not fit in with other London landscapes”. .
In 2015, Walkie-Talkie even won the Carbuncle Cup for the worst building in London, but although the landmark initially received only complaints about its design – more serious. It turned out to be a problem.

It turns out that the sun reflects off the glass of this building, also known as the “sky garden,” melting cars and blistering the paint on storefronts. And it was so hot that an egg would bake on the pavement below.

In addition, the shape of the building created a wind tunnel at the bottom, creating gusts of wind that blew people and shopping carts away. The developers had to charge millions of pounds to fix this error, which may sound expensive, but at least you’ll get some money back.

3. Air ticket typo

$7.2 million

The next time you’re embarrassed by a typo, at least be thankful that it didn’t cost you more than $7 million in cash like the now-defunct Alitalia. In 2006, Italy’s largest airline at the time advertised a long-haul flight from Toronto to Cyprus in business class for a bargain price of just $39.

However, it turns out that the ticket was supposed to sell for $3,900, but was sold by mistake by an Alitalia employee. The company immediately tried to refund the cost of the cheap flights, but faced a number of complaints and had to board customers who had already booked to save face.

I don’t believe this fiasco led to the company’s closure in 2021, but I lost a lot of money because I got a few zeros wrong.

4. Destroy NASA rocket with code error

$80 million

And the most memorable was the launch of NASA’s Mariner 1 rocket in 1962. After years of investment and a tussle with the Soviet Union for the then-space race winner position, NASA hoped the rocket launch would reposition the United States as the world leader in space.

NASA bosses decided that Mariner 1 would fly to Venus and set an amazing new standard in space travel, and years of research, calculations and checks were done to prepare for the flight. Five minutes after launch, Mariner 1 exploded, sending $80 million in US government funding into smoke.

An omission of a hyphen embedded deep in Mariner 1’s cipher turned out to be the cause of the rocket’s failure to reach orbit.

5. Publisher turned down Harry Potter

$1.15 billion (novel sales)

At least a dozen publishers feel guilty about Harry Potter’s phenomenal success. While Rowling was still looking for a publisher for the series, she didn’t get lucky until her 13th try.

The story of a boy who goes to magic school is now loved by millions, earning over $1.15 billion in novel sales and over $700 million in movie rights. But it all started with an idea that the author had on a train in 1990. However, according to Rowling’s representative at the time, the first book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” was turned down by nearly every major British publisher for 12 months.

The reason for this is that due to the length of the story, it was thought that the boarding school setting would be too exclusive for many readers. Fortunately for JK, Bloomsbury finally agreed to take over the project, and the rest is history. Since the philosopher’s stone was published, the Potter series has made a huge profit for Rowling’s publisher, Bloomsbury, and they are very pleased that the book has been turned down so many times. there will be

6. Yahoo sold Alibaba

$80 billion (pre-tax)

Yahoo sold half of its stake in Chinese mega-commerce site Alibaba in 2012, but investors in the company probably took the decision two years later when Alibaba went public on the stock exchange in a record IPO. have been regretting. Yahoo stock was valued at just $13 in a 2012 deal, which may have seemed great then, but just 24 months later, Alibaba shares are worth $68 a share and are now worth more than $181. It’s becoming

Yahoo initially invested $1 billion in Alibaba in 2005 and received a 30% stake in the company, but came under pressure from investors to liquidate the company’s Asian assets, prompting then-CEO Scott Thompson. was forced to sell. Thompson may have only been CEO of Yahoo for 180 days, but the ramifications of his dubious decision in 2012 will last longer, with Yahoo deciding to sell its remaining stake in the Chinese company in 2019. I’ve reached.

Yahoo executives didn’t have to flip their palms this time around, earning a respectable $40 billion in net revenue for investors, but if the company had retained its original 30% stake, the revenue would have been $80 billion.

7.5 billion yen bitcoin lost in dump

$280 million

If you’ve ever given up something and regretted it, you can probably relate to James Howell.

Howell, who bought 7,500 bitcoins in 2009 and was worth little compared to the prices that followed, took his computer apart and put the hard disk in a drawer when he spilled a drink on the machine. I woke up. Three years later, when I was packing to move, I found the hard drive, forgot it had Bitcoins in it, and promptly threw it in the trash.

But when the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed to $1,000, Howell remembered the coin. After checking the backup files to no avail, he contacted the owner of the landfill where the hard disk might have been taken, hoping to find the coin there. Unfortunately, however, the manager of the location told Howell that the hard disk could be buried five feet deep and would be nearly impossible to find, much to Howell’s disappointment. It was.

8. Blockbuster Could Buy Netflix

$168.97 billion (Netflix value 2022)

In the 80s and 90s, Blockbuster reigned as a giant video chain, but in the 2000s, despite trying to make its presence known, it was forced to shut down. The film titan ruled the video industry for 13 years until Netflix came along in 1998. The newcomer initially had the simple idea of delivering movies to customers by mail, with the goal of improving the home movie rental market.

After years of struggling to lure prospects with free trials and deep discounts and drive subscriptions, Netflix had enough subscribers to sell the company and made an offer to rival Blockbuster. At the time, Netflix was still losing more money than it was making, so the deal didn’t look very attractive to the still-dominant video franchise. So Blockbuster turned down the chance to buy the company at the current bargain price of $50 million.

With Netflix’s final valuation of about $168.97 billion, former Blockbuster executives say they’ll regret the decision as the streaming service is now the primary way people consume movies at home. We think that it may have become Of course it will be on Netflix! But I’m happy to hear that there is still the last blockbuster in Bend, Oregon, USA.

9. Fallen Wall Street Trader

$6.2 billion

If you’ve ever bet on a risky investment portfolio and it failed, even if the market seemed to be heading in your favor, it was wiped out at the last moment. You know that things happen. But $6.2 billion is unlikely, even if it’s around $1,000.

Iskir, nicknamed “Voldemort” for his willingness to engage in big risky deals, was ironically part of a team tasked with protecting JP Morgan from risk, but in 2012 he The illegal bet collapsed and everything went wrong. Whenever JP Morgan made a big investment, Iskill’s job was to insure it against failure. However, Iskir hoped that by avoiding the usual hedging and betting on complex investment securities, the banks would be able to make huge profits.

Unfortunately, this bold bet didn’t go his way, or JP Morgan’s, and cost him $6.2 billion. But to be fair, his boss admits that others were involved, and that management should have blocked the deal, so it doesn’t look like he’s entirely at fault. .

10. New flavors of cola

$34 million

When big-budget products fail, they often fail big. In 1985, Coca-Cola tried to get ahead of rival Pepsi by launching New Coke, which, like Pepsi, tasted sweeter than the original.

However, the new launch was not a success, and Cola fans were frustrated and demanded that the original flavor be reverted. Just 79 days after the launch of New Coke, Coca-Cola executives, who lost $34 million, announced a return to the old model, called Coca-Cola Classic, through 2009. The New Coke was manufactured and sold under the name Coke until it was rebranded to Coke II in 1992, and was discontinued in 2002, but it must have had some fans.

New Coke made a 500,000-can limited comeback in 2019 and even appeared on Netflix’s hit Stranger Things, but the story could be a cautionary tale that proves the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” unknown. This time, the drink was received more friendly, and customers flooded in to order cans online. That may not come as much of a surprise, as Coca-Cola’s largest market share right now comes from the company’s non-classic products like Cherry and Diet Coke.

11. Winning lottery ticket thrown in the trash

$58 million

Next time, you might want to check your lottery numbers and think twice before throwing away what you think are lost tickets, or you’re a very missed lottery winner. I managed to find myself in a similar situation.

Fred Higgins ran a lottery ticket at a local newsagent’s checking machine, but when the machine did not show a winner, the owner decided it was a loser and tore it in half. A second later, the machine chimed and Higgins emerged with a ticket to call Camelot.

Higgins thought he had won £5.8m after checking the numbers with his wife Leslie at home. But the story didn’t end there. Camelot executives had to decide whether to honor the torn ticket, so Higgins and his wife had to wait two painful weeks before being told they could claim the winnings. !

12. Apple’s third founder sold his stock early on

300 billion yen

If you imagine they sold their stake in one of the most successful companies of all time, Apple, after they made their fortune, you may feel sorry for Ronald Wayne, the man who lost so much money at Apple. do not have. Wayne, who founded Apple Computer in 1976 with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, whom he met at Atari, held a 10% stake in what would become the world’s largest brand.

But after just 12 days as founder, he decided to pull out and sold all his shares to Wozniak for a measly $800. The problem is that Apple is still a young company. While both Jobs and Wozniak were in their early 20s and inexperienced, Wayne had a home with a mortgage and other assets.

But the choice was a blessing in disguise, as his stake is now said to be worth $300 billion. Had he remained a shareholder, he would never have had to worry about his finances again, and in fact, a $300 billion value would have made him one of the richest people in the world.

13. Shanghai New Building Collapses

$30 million

When overseeing a large construction project, it is wise to follow some basic rules, such as not digging underground without properly supporting the building. In 2009, homeowners who had invested in the building were stunned when the 13-story uninhabited Lotus Riverside building in Minhang, China, collapsed.

Initially, no one knew what caused the collapse of the 629 apartments, but an investigation soon revealed that improper construction methods were to blame, and the property company’s assets were frozen. The collapse, which has evacuated 130 residents, came after several days of heavy rains that displaced the soil structure, investigators said. When builders tried to excavate the underground car park, they piled up mud up to 10 meters high on the other side, creating a lot of pressure and weakening the foundations of the facility.

Another big factor was the lack of scaffolding when excavating the wall of the parking lot.

14. Superman Mustache

$25 million (when reshot)

When Avengers director Joss Whedon produced the 2017 theatrical cut of Justice League, he probably didn’t expect to receive so many complaints from outraged fans about Superman’s mustache. It must have been. The problem was that Weedon had to shoot Tudor star Henry Cavill while he was signed to Paramount, and as part of that deal Cavill shaved his facial hair. There was a clause that prevented Superman famously doesn’t have a mustache, so after spending $25 million on reshoots, they had no choice but to digitally remove Cavill’s mustache.

Unfortunately, the CGI removal didn’t work very well, and the effect was so phony that moviegoers didn’t like it. Luckily, Cavill had shot scenes for Justice League before signing with Paramount, and was stripped of his mustache. And when original director Zach Synder regained control of the film, he used it and ditched the Whedon footage.

When Cinder’s Director’s Cut is released in 2021, Superman’s upper lip is perfect, and many fans are happy with it once again. Weedon may have learned firsthand that if he dabbled in a superhero’s mustache, it might become his own Kryptonite.

15. Seongsu Bridge Collapse

$2 million for reconstruction (plus compensation)

The collapse of Seongsu Bridge in Seoul in 1994 shocked many Koreans, as it was a symbol of the new urban society that had emerged in Seoul since 1979.

The incident occurred at 7:38 am on October 21, when the fifth and sixth legs of the bridge collapsed and slid into the Han River. The accident killed 32 people and injured at least 17 others. To make matters worse, however, research into the construction of the Sacred Water Bridge reveals that the collapse could have been prevented.

It turned out that beams, corners, welding, etc. had been severely neglected, and over the years there had been a significant increase in traffic that was not part of the bridge’s design. There were also reports of cracks in the road over the bridge the night before the accident. But if they did, the results could have been very different. However, he ended up having to pay $185,000 in damages to the injured.

A new bridge is currently being built on the site at a cost of $2 million, and hopefully lessons will be learned to prevent this from happening again.

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