Meitehao had ¥8.6B revenue and 200 stores — then a prepaid card run killed it
Shanxi's largest supermarket chain collapsed in 2025 when a prepaid card run drained cash. ¥5B+ debt, 54 companies in reorganization.
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An Italian game developer staked its future on two publishing deals with Cryo Interactive. When Cryo went bankrupt, Trecision followed within a year.
Lire le casSAC Capital's $1.8B insider trading — the hedge fund that paid the biggest fine ever
Steven Cohen's SAC Capital generated 30% annual returns for 20 years. The government proved it was built on insider tips. $1.8B in fines, the firm destroyed.
Lire le casAn affair allegation cut Prince Chiu's brand deals within 48 hours
Wacoal said the gig was already over, Da Li Mei called it 'mutually ended', and a fragrance event swapped him out — a scandal undid two partnerships overnight.
Lire le casBoliden's tailings dam burst above Doñana; the €45m fine became 25 years in court
A tailings pond built on blue marl failed in 1998, sending 4–5 million cubic metres of acidic metal sludge toward Doñana. Cleanup: €276m. Fine: €45m.
Lire le casEvergrande Wealth Management sold products to its own staff, then defaulted
Evergrande's in-house wealth unit raised over 100 billion yuan from 80,000+ investors, many its own employees pressured to buy in — then stopped paying.
Lire le casNikko Denki Seisakusho parked 625 molds on 20 suppliers free, some for 20 years
The Tokyo circuit-breaker maker had 20 subcontractors store its molds and wooden patterns unpaid for two decades, then paid ¥4.2M and reclaimed every one.
Lire le casBrazil's most awarded ad agency closed without paying its employees
Fischer & Justus was Brazil's hottest ad duo in the 1980s. Thirty-eight years later, the agency collapsed with unpaid salaries.
Lire le casInfosys's time-tracking system broke French labor rules. France fined it €175,000.
France's labour authority found Infosys's working-time recording system unreliable and unauditable for some staff. Fine: €175,000. Infosys called it immaterial.
Lire le casVespa built a car — and buried it because the scooter was selling too well
The Vespa 400, launched in 1957, was a competent microcar. Piaggio's dealers sold scooters, not cars. The 400 was quietly discontinued after 30,000 units.
Lire le casHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: inflation smoking gun was galactic dust
A press-conference 'smoking gun' for the Big Bang, ten months of Nobel talk — then the joint analysis showed the signal was dust in our own galaxy.
Lire le casChina top coding chain shut 230 campuses overnight — parents lost prepaid tuition
Tongcheng Tongmei ran 230+ campuses in 50+ cities. Jan 12-13, 2025: all shut simultaneously. Staff unpaid; parents still waiting for refunds.
Lire le casLimitless's $11bn Arabian Canal lost its deadline in 2009 and never dug past phase one
A 75km, $11bn canal for a $50bn city of a million people launched in January 2008; by April 2009 the deadline was scrapped and digging slowed.
Lire le casSamsung rushed the Galaxy Note 7 to market — two different battery defects set it on fire
The first recall replaced 2.5 million phones. The replacements also caught fire — a second, unrelated battery defect. Samsung killed the phone and lost $17B.
Lire le casSaudi's Al-Khudairy family touted a capital raise, sold next day, paid SAR 101.7M
The June 2018 announcement cast the parent's capital increase as a 'strong indicator' of support; the family portfolio sold 2.18M shares within 48 hours.
Lire le casCNN ended its decade-long New Year's Eve partnership in one day
A decade-old co-hosting duo ended in 24 hours over one photo; the replacement was announced five months later and the show went on.
Lire le casStudebaker made wagons for the Union Army — 100 years later it made its last car
Studebaker survived the Depression by merging with Packard, then kept the wrong executives and lost its last chance. The South Bend plant closed in 1963.
Lire le casNikko Cordial's SPC accounting fraud ended with Citigroup buying Japan's No. 3 brokerage
Improper profit booked through unconsolidated SPCs brought Japan's third-largest brokerage a record ¥500M surcharge, a delisting scare and a Citigroup takeover.
Lire le casPizza Hut Korea filed for rehabilitation after losing a 21.5B won franchisee lawsuit
Korea's master franchisee of the US pizza chain was ordered to repay 21.5B won in unfair fees, then entered court-led rehabilitation with negative equity.
Lire le casTesla's 'Full Self-Driving' name was ruled false advertising on two continents
Regulators in Germany, France and California found the 'Full Self-Driving' name itself misleading; Tesla fixed the US marketing, then sued.
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