Hanergy lost $24 billion in 24 minutes — the biggest one-day crash in solar history
Hanergy's stock crashed 47% in 24 minutes, wiping out $24 billion. The SFC suspended trading, and the company was delisted four years later.
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3,222 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDSilicon Knights lost its Epic Games lawsuit — a judge ordered it to destroy its own games
Silicon Knights made Too Human, then sued Epic Games over Unreal — and lost. The court ordered it to destroy unsold copies. It filed for bankruptcy in 2014.
Read the caseGroupe Rocher bought Sabon for €160M — sold its Israel retail for $1.9M
Yves Rocher's parent bought Israeli skincare brand Sabon for €160M in 2016, then sold its retail business for $1.9M in 2025, losing ~€158M.
Read the caseSamyang Buldak: the spicy noodles that TikTok made famous
Samyang was a struggling Korean noodle company. The CEO developed a spicy chicken flavor. The Fire Noodle Challenge went viral. The company's revenue doubled.
Read the caseTesla paid $2.6B for SolarCity — a bailout of Elon Musk's cousins
Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2.6B in 2016, a deal critics called a bailout of Elon Musk's cousins. SolarCity was never profitable on its own.
Read the caseGrupo Petrópolis, Brazil's No. 3 brewer, filed for judicial recovery with R$4.4B in debt
The owner of Itaipava and Crystal beers expanded on cheap debt, then Brazil's Selic rate hit 13.75% and only 40% of its eight factories were running.
Read the caseKiko Milano expanded too fast — US Chapter 11, 64M€ loss, and a fire sale
Italy's biggest makeup brand opened stores in 30 countries before its US stores filed for Chapter 11. By 2018 the company was 64M€ in the red.
Read the caseO Boticário was a pharmacy that bought perfume by mistake — it became a cosmetics giant
Miguel Krigsner opened a pharmacy in Curitiba, 1977. A supplier sent perfume essences by mistake. Customers loved the fragrances, and he switched to cosmetics.
Read the caseHuda Beauty paid $1.93M for hiding eye-safety warnings inside its Neon Obsessions palette
Huda Beauty’s Neon Obsessions palette held ingredients the FDA bars from around the eyes, warning on the back of the box. The class action cost $1.93M.
Read the caseBira 91's name change triggered a regulatory crisis that exposed a company already broken
India’s craft beer darling changed its corporate name from Private Ltd to Ltd. State excise read it as a new entity, sales stopped, ₹80 crore of stock expired.
Read the caseFoxconn promised $10B for Wisconsin — created 500 jobs
Foxconn promised a $10B LCD plant with 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin in 2017. Six years, billions in subsidies, and downgrades later, the plant stood empty.
Read the caseAtelier Cologne spent 9 years in Korea — L'Oréal still pulled the plug
L'Oréal launched Atelier Cologne in Korea in 2014. Nine years and 7 department-store counters later, the niche citrus brand still couldn't sustain itself.
Read the caseLINE's stickers were an afterthought — they became a billion-dollar business
LINE launched as a messaging app after Japan’s 2011 earthquake. Stickers were a minor feature. Users bought millions; a billion are now sent daily.
Read the caseValentino Beauty launched in Taiwan, folded in 2 years — luxury fragrance market full
L'Oréal launched Valentino Beauty in Taiwan in 2023. By 2025, all counters closed. The luxury fragrance market was already crowded with established players.
Read the caseHKEX tried to buy the London Stock Exchange for £32B — and was rejected in days
Hong Kong's stock exchange made a surprise £32B bid for the LSE in 2019, but the offer was rejected within days over regulatory fears and Refinitiv.
Read the caseSNC-Lavalin bribed its way through Libya — then dragged Canada's PM into a scandal
SNC-Lavalin paid $48M in bribes for Libyan contracts, then pushed the Canadian government to intervene in its prosecution — triggering a political scandal.
Read the caseAmazon spent $75M on Joyo — then ceded China's e-commerce to Alibaba and JD
Amazon bought China's Joyo in 2004 for $75M, invested a decade, and still ended up with less than 1% market share. It closed its domestic marketplace in 2019.
Read the caseLao Gan Ma: the chili sauce that killed the noodle shop
A noodle shop owner made chili sauce for customers. They bought the sauce and left the noodles. She closed the shop and built a billion-dollar brand.
Read the caseRonald McDonald was a local TV clown who became the face of a global empire
In 1963, a Washington DC franchisee hired a local TV clown for a single commercial. McDonald's corporate adopted the character. Ronald McDonald was born.
Read the caseDubble Bubble: the pink gum an accountant made by accident
An accountant experimenting with gum recipes made a batch that was less sticky. He wrapped it with a taffy machine. Bubble gum was born.
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