Infosys picked its first outsider CEO — then the founders drove him out
Infosys hired its first outsider CEO in 2014. A feud over a $200M deal, a payout and his pay went public; in 2017 he resigned and a co-founder returned.
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2,000 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDJohnson's baby powder: 130 years of talc, ended by one bottle of asbestos
One FDA finding of sub-trace asbestos in a single bottle recalled 33,000. Then lawsuits ended the talc powder: US and Canada in 2020, the world in 2023.
Read the caseThe horse that could do math — until researchers noticed their own cues
Clever Hans appeared to do arithmetic by tapping his hoof. The horse was reading unconscious human cues — a discovery that gave research double-blind method.
Read the caseChina's largest imported cosmeceutical chain went bankrupt — 200 stores to zero
UBSKIN grew to 200+ imported-skincare stores across China. It stopped franchising in 2019, failed online, and was declared bankrupt Aug 2026.
Read the caseLovecraft Brewery spent HK$40M on a craft brewery in Hong Kong — the market was too small
Hong Kong's first craft lager brewery won international awards but couldn't overcome the city's high costs and limited demand. It closed after eight years.
Read the caseThe £10bn NHS computer that never was: how NPfIT became Britain's biggest IT fiasco
The world's largest civilian IT project waived its own penalty clauses, hit £9.8bn, and was dismantled in 2011 with its central patient database unbuilt.
Read the caseOrange County's $1.6B derivatives bankruptcy — the treasurer who bet on interest rates
Robert Citron leveraged an $8B county pool into $20B of derivatives. When rates rose, the county lost $1.6B — the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history.
Read the caseDabur's '3x immunity' Chyawanprash claim upheld as unsubstantiated — twice
ASCI upheld complaints against Dabur's '3 times more immunity' Chyawanprash ads in February 2013 and again in February 2015 — the same unsubstantiated claim.
Read the caseM&S let a contractor's help desk reset any password by phone — hackers just asked
Scattered Spider impersonated an M&S employee to a Tata help desk, got a password reset, and the ransomware that followed cost M&S roughly £300 million.
Read the caseProbuild: fixed-price contracts into an inflation spike — then the parent pulled the plug
One of Australia's biggest builders collapsed in February 2022 when its South African parent withdrew support, stranding A$5bn of projects and 2,300 creditors.
Read the caseVoyager's CEO touted bank-grade, FDIC-insured safety while lending $650M unsecured to 3AC
The FTC and CFTC say Voyager marketed itself as a 'safe haven' with FDIC-insured USD while pooling customer crypto into unsecured loans to a hedge fund.
Read the caseZhong Xue Gao sold 66-yuan ice cream to a 3-yuan market — from ¥4B to liquidation
The brand that made 66-yuan ice cream a national argument kept its prices while its freezers emptied. In 2025 a supplier filed it for bankruptcy.
Read the caseHostess: insider raises and a wage-cut standoff liquidated Twinkies at 18,500 jobs
Hostess imposed 8% wage cuts and 27-32% benefit cuts, got a nationwide strike, and liquidated — while its CEO's pay tripled to $2.5m in bankruptcy.
Read the caseHytale: Riot funded it 10 years, then cancelled and closed the studio
Riot Games acquired Hypixel Studios and funded Hytale for a decade; in 2025 it cancelled the game and shut the studio down — then the founder bought it back.
Read the caseStanley Milgram made subjects believe they were killing someone — for science
Milgram's 1961 obedience study found 65% of subjects gave apparently fatal shocks. The findings reshaped psychology — and so did the ethics crisis.
Read the caseSE Asia once-largest dept store closed after 51 years — land sold at record NT$3.8M/ping
Daito (大統百貨) opened in Kaohsiung in 1975 as SE Asia's largest department store. A 1995 fire ended its golden era. Feb 28, 2025: final day. Mar 2025: demolished.
Read the caseHit-Point's 95% take killed Travel Frog China — a 7.6M-DAU hit exits
Japan's Hit-Point demanded 95% of revenue and vetoed merchandise for its frog game's China version, so Alibaba's Lingxi let it shut down on Dec 8, 2026.
Read the caseeFishery was Indonesia's first unicorn — $600 million of its revenue was fake
The smart fish feeder startup raised $200M at a $1.4B valuation. Then a whistleblower showed the board two sets of books: one real, one for investors.
Read the caseNoble Group was Asia's biggest commodity trader — then an accounting scandal erased it
Hong Kong's Noble Group went from $46B revenue to $1.7B loss after Iceberg Research accused it of accounting fraud.
Read the caseManchester United paid Mason Greenwood's full wages for 18 months of suspension
Nike ended his deal in eight days; United suspended him for 18 months but kept paying him in full — then let him leave by mutual agreement.
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