TCS told 12,000 employees to go — then the unions came for it
TCS tried to cut 12,000 jobs through forced resignations. The backlash — unions, labour commissioners, US senators — turned a routine trim into a crisis.
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2,000 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDHyperloop One: the 12-minute Dubai–Abu Dhabi promise died with the company
Hyperloop One teased Dubai–Abu Dhabi in 12 minutes in 2016; it never built a commercial metre and shut down in 2023, burning $450m of investor money.
Read the caseEugene Goostman 'passes' the Turing test — for five minutes
A chatbot pretending to be a 13-year-old convinced a third of judges for five minutes — and the field spent a decade saying no.
Read the caseTicketmaster México oversold Bad Bunny's Azteca show, then blamed fake tickets
2,155 valid-ticket holders were shut out of Bad Bunny's 2022 Azteca show; Ticketmaster México blamed fakes, then paid MXN 18.15M in refunds and compensation.
Read the case'Ce n'était pas une entreprise comme les autres' — Manufrance died twice for that idea
The catalog that outfitted a century of French households bled money from 1975; the city marched, the workers staked their severance — and it died twice anyway.
Read the caseFortinet left its own data on an unguarded cloud drive — a hacker sold 440GB of it
In January 2025 a hacker named 'Fortibitch' claimed 440GB of Fortinet's files — and the firm that sells security had been breached itself.
Read the caseJPMorgan failed to surveil billions of orders — about $448M in fines
Three US regulators fined JPMorgan roughly $450M after its surveillance systems missed billions of orders for years, leaving manipulation room to hide.
Read the caseWrigley's Doublemint bet on Chris Brown was suspended in a day and dead by August
The gum maker pulled its ads within a day of Brown's arrest; after his June guilty plea, Wrigley ended it — six months, two decisions, one vanished campaign.
Read the caseSmartisan designed phones competitors couldn’t manufacture at scale
Luo Yonghao’s Smartisan won design awards but its phones were delayed by supply chain problems. After ¥600M in debt, ByteDance absorbed what was left.
Read the case'Das kirchliche Weltbild ist insolvent' — the bishops let their publisher die
The Catholic Church owned Weltbild for 39 years. In January 2014 it refused the rescue bill and let the publisher go insolvent; ten years on, it died for good.
Read the caseAntrix scrapped the Devas satellite lease in 2011 — the awards now top $2 billion
ISRO's commercial arm killed a 2005 satellite lease on policy grounds; tribunals called it wrongful termination, awarding $562.5m then $1.29bn — now past $2bn.
Read the casePepsiCo killed Punica — a €100M German brand that lost its way in one rebrand
PepsiCo bought Germany's beloved fruit drink in 2005, rebranded for Gen Z in 2019, lost the core customers, sold the portfolio, and killed the brand in 2022.
Read the caseKorean Air's heiress threw a tantrum over nuts — and sparked a national scandal
Korean Air's vice president forced a plane back to the gate over nuts served in a bag. The 'nut rage' scandal cost millions and exposed chaebol entitlement.
Read the caseCoca-Cola Blak: a coffee-flavored cola that lasted two years
Coca-Cola launched a coffee-flavored mid-calorie soda in 2006. By 2008 it was gone — a product that pleased neither cola drinkers nor coffee drinkers.
Read the caseNeutrinos beat light by 60 nanoseconds — the fault was a loose cable
A six-sigma result that broke relativity was undone by a cable. OPERA announced neutrinos beating light, then spent eight months unwinding it.
Read the caseCanara HSBC Life sold an 88-year-old a policy capped at age 80 — IRDAI fined it ₹1 crore
A viral post exposed a deferred annuity sold through Canara Bank to a man eight years over the entry-age cap; IRDAI's suo motu case cost the insurer ₹1 crore.
Read the caseEast Germany's cosmetics monopoly collapsed when capitalism arrived
East Germany's cosmetics monopoly controlled 95% of the market. After reunification the Treuhand privatised it — and it was insolvent within four years.
Read the caseA Telefónica network update crashed its own network — and Spain's 112 with it
In May 2025 a Telefónica network update went wrong and knocked out phone, internet and Spain's 112 emergency line.
Read the caseMississippi Company: John Law's $6.5T bubble that ruined France
John Law's Mississippi Company was worth $6.5T at its peak — more than any company ever. Within a year it was worthless, Law exiled, France's economy ruined.
Read the caseThree years of defending Bournvita's claims ended when FSSAI made Mondelez pull the ads
Mondelez survived a viral exposé on Bournvita's sugar and sued a critic. Then FSSAI flagged the nutrition claims — and the ads came down.
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