Modus Vallesi ran perfumeries across 9 Italian regions — then sold them all to Douglas
An Italian perfumery chain entered crisis proceedings in 2025, laid off 55 workers, and sold its Modus stores to competitors D.M.O. and Douglas.
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3,222 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDChina's 'perfume first stock' spent HK$70M on PR prepayments — then its auditor quit
Eternal Fragrance Group, distributor for Hermès and Bvlgari perfumes, was suspended from the HKEX in March 2026 after PwC resigned over unexplained prepayments.
Read the caseMarutake Cosmetics made face powder for 101 years — last owner too old to continue
A century-old Hsinchu cosmetics brand known for traditional face powder is closing in June 2026. No successor, rising costs, and a shrinking market ended it.
Read the caseSkinLabo was Italy's first digital cosmetics brand — €100M valuation, €17M losses
A Turin startup selling premium cosmetics exclusively online raised €39M from Italy's financial elite. Rising ad costs turned the model to dust.
Read the caseMills International sold luxury perfume online for 28 years — the weak yen killed it
A Japanese perfume e-commerce pioneer survived the pandemic but not the yen's collapse. Import costs surged and ¥1B in liabilities followed.
Read the caseCharmzone pioneered K-beauty — then lost it all to road-shop brands and a car dealership
Korea's first cleansing-water maker posted five straight years of losses and filed for rehabilitation after a failed car-sales side business.
Read the caseSemba Kitcho, Osaka's top ryotei, served expired food and lied on camera
An Osaka ryotei was caught reusing leftovers and mislabeling ingredients. The proprietress whispered answers at a live press conference. Bankruptcy followed.
Read the caseBonjour Holdings went from HK$1.8B revenue to a winding-up order in a decade
Hong Kong's biggest beauty retailer lost its core subsidiary to a court-ordered winding-up, its share price fell 99%, and it survived on emergency share issues.
Read the caseKanebo's whitening ingredient gave 19,600 users skin blotches it could not reverse
A proprietary brightening compound caused leukoderma in nearly 20,000 customers. Kanebo recalled 54 products across Asia and paid out for years.
Read the caseJapan's 'Tiffany of Tokyo' collapsed with ¥12B in debt during the recession
Miki Corporation, one of Japan's largest diamond and jewelry retailers, went bankrupt in 2009 as holiday sales plunged to a decade-low and debts mounted.
Read the caseRichemont spent 19 years trying to make Shanghai Tang a luxury brand, then gave it away
The first contemporary luxury brand from China was sold by Richemont in 2017 after failing to convince Chinese consumers to buy their heritage at luxury prices.
Read the caseAtari invented the video game industry — then buried 700,000 cartridges in a desert
Atari had 80% of the console market in 1982. The E.T. game was buried in a landfill. Revenue fell 97% and Atari was sold in pieces.
Read the caseConcorde flew at Mach 2 for 27 years — and never made a profit
Britain and France spent $28B building the supersonic airliner. Only 14 were sold. Air France and British Airways never recovered their investment.
Read the casePhilip Green bought BHS for £200M, sold it for £1, and left a £571M pension hole
Philip Green extracted £586M from BHS over 15 years, then sold it for £1 to a man with no retail experience. BHS collapsed a year later.
Read the caseBeyond Meat IPO'd at $25, hit $234, and fell to $4 — the plant burger bubble burst
Beyond Meat's 2019 IPO was the year's hottest. The stock hit $234. By 2024 it was under $5. Revenue peaked at $465M and fell. Losses exceeded $1B cumulatively.
Read the caseHenrik Fisker went bankrupt twice — the second time with a $100K SUV nobody wanted
Fisker Inc. went public via SPAC in 2020, launched the Ocean SUV in 2022, and filed Chapter 11 in June 2024. The stock went from $30 to $0.01.
Read the caseLucid was worth $90B on paper — and sold fewer cars in a year than Tesla sells in a day
Lucid went public via SPAC in 2021 at a $90B peak. It delivered 4,369 cars in 2022 and lost $2.8B. The Saudi PIF owns 60% and keeps funding the losses.
Read the caseRivian IPO'd at $77B — more than Ford — and then lost $5B a year making trucks
Rivian's 2021 IPO valued it at $77B, more than Ford or GM. It lost $5B+ in 2022. The stock fell 90% from its peak as production scaled slower than promised.
Read the caseCanoo went public via SPAC, got a NASA contract, and still went bankrupt
Canoo merged with a SPAC in 2020 at $2.4B. It got a NASA vehicle contract and a Walmart pre-order. It filed Chapter 7 in January 2025 with $0 in revenue.
Read the caseeToys was worth $8B on paper — and bankrupt 20 months later
eToys IPO'd in May 1999 at $20 and peaked at $84. It lost $286M on $154M revenue. Bankrupt by March 2001. Toys 'R' Us bought the assets for $10M.
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