NotPetya wiped Maersk's computers worldwide — and cost it up to $300M
When the NotPetya worm hit in 2017, it locked the world's largest container line out of its own systems. Terminals stalled; the cleanup cost up to $300M.
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3,222 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDMichelin recalled 800,000 tires over tread separation — a defect built over two years
Michelin's BFGoodrich and Uniroyal light-truck tires could shed their tread and lose air fast. About 800,000, made over two and a half years, were recalled.
Read the caseMorphe bet the brand on beauty influencers — then the partnerships went sour
Morphe built a makeup brand on influencer collabs with Jeffree Star and James Charles. In January 2023 its parent filed for Chapter 11 with ~$868M of debt.
Read the caseMt. Gox was the world's biggest bitcoin exchange — then 850,000 coins vanished
Mt. Gox handled most of the world's bitcoin trades, then found hundreds of thousands of coins missing. It blamed a bug and filed for bankruptcy in 2014.
Read the caseNapster grew to 80M users in 18 months — then the music industry sued it into bankruptcy
Napster grew to 80M users faster than any technology before it. But the RIAA won the lawsuit and Napster was bankrupt by June 2002.
Read the caseNaver rigged its own search to favor its own shops — Korea fined it ₩26.7B
Naver, South Korea's top search platform, tweaked its shopping and video algorithms to push its own services above rivals. In 2020 the KFTC fined it ₩26.7B.
Read the caseNike called walkers 'tolerated' on a Spanish billboard — and pulled it before race day
A Nike billboard in Spanish read 'Se toleran los peatones' — pedestrians tolerated. Runners and walkers called it out, and Nike removed it before the marathon.
Read the caseNorthern Rock borrowed short, lent long, and caused the first UK bank run in 150 years
Northern Rock's model depended on wholesale borrowing to fund mortgages. When the markets froze in 2007, it triggered the first UK bank run since 1866.
Read the caseOGX borrowed against oil it hadn't produced — and became Brazil's biggest bankruptcy
Eike Batista's OGX was the symbol of Brazil's oil boom, valued on reserves it never delivered. It missed an interest payment and filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
Read the casePetrobras hid a bribery scheme in its assets — and paid $1.8B to the SEC and DOJ
Petrobras executives inflated project costs and booked kickbacks as assets, overstating them by $2.5B. Regulators settled for $1.8B and investors for $2.95B.
Read the casePixmania went from €900M French e-commerce leader to sold for scraps in seven years
Dixons Retail paid €261M for 77% of the online electronics retailer in 2006. By 2013, Pixmania was losing £31M a year and was sold for €69M.
Read the caseA €325M rescue fell through and Qimonda went bankrupt — 12,000 jobs lost
Infineon spun off Qimonda in 2006 to make memory chips. When prices collapsed, a €325M rescue fell through and it went bankrupt — 12,000 jobs lost.
Read the caseRadioShack went from 8,000 stores to two bankruptcies by losing its identity
Founded in 1921, RadioShack peaked at 8,000 stores but never found its role online. Two Chapter 11 filings and multiple turnarounds later, the brand is a shell.
Read the caseRémy Cointreau bet on China's gift-giving culture — then Beijing banned it
Beijing's 2012 anti-graft ban killed the luxury gifting driving Rémy Cointreau's China growth. Profits fell 40%, the CEO left.
Read the caseSaks bought Neiman Marcus for $2.65B — then the luxury slowdown sent it bankrupt
Saks Global bought Neiman Marcus in a $2.65B merger in 2024. With over $2.5B of debt and luxury spending cooling, it filed for Chapter 11 in January 2026.
Read the caseFive IBM engineers left to build the software IBM refused to build — and outgrew IBM
In 1972, five former IBM engineers pooled their savings to build enterprise software. IBM had the idea first and said no. SAP is now worth more than IBM.
Read the caseSara Lee sold off 40% of its business — and still couldn't survive as one company
Once a household-name conglomerate, Sara Lee spent seven years shedding non-core assets for $3.7B, then split into two and was acquired within two years.
Read the caseGM built a car company that worked — then starved it for twenty years and killed it
Saturn had salaried salespeople, no-haggle pricing, and a team-based factory. Customers loved it. GM never gave it a second model worth buying.
Read the caseSears went from America's largest retailer to 5 stores via financial engineering
Once the world's largest retailer, Sears lost 68% of its revenue in 11 years under Eddie Lampert. By December 2025, only 5 stores remained.
Read the caseSkechers paid $40M for ads that toned the marketing, not the muscles
Skechers said Shape-ups could tone muscles and burn calories, citing an 'independent' study. The FTC found the researcher was married to a Skechers executive.
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