Business failures, costly decisions and the lessons they leave behind.
The full archive, in the appThe watch world's most trusted media brand raised $40M, bought a pre-owned marketplace at the market's peak, and sold itself for ~$14M after the bubble burst.
Read the caseA stalker who knew only her ex's name and birthdate got his new number from 1&1's hotline. The BfDI fined €9.55M; the Bonn court cut it to €900K.
Read the caseA trader at Mitsubishi's Singapore unit manipulated risk controls for unauthorized oil trades. Loss: $90M. Trader fired and reported to police.
Read the caseNetflix postponed and then cancelled a completed Cosby special while TV Land pulled reruns — a content exodus a 2021 court ruling could not reverse.
Read the caseICD and Kerzner marketed the Palm Jumeirah icon and its 231 residences on a 2019 opening promise; the reveal finally came in January 2023.
Read the caseAn oil founder bet the company on a shale acreage grab before proving well economics, and leverage turned falling oil prices into total equity wipeout.
Read the caseA cigarette maker's capital grew 1,508-fold, its stock rode thin liquidity to a boom, and retail bought the top — SEBI impounded ₹51.2 crore and banned five.
Read the caseAfter FSSAI and NCPCR said 'health drink' has no legal definition, HUL renamed the category and stripped the word from its flagship brands.
Read the caseItaly's former phone monopoly dismissed CEO Amos Genish in November 2018 after Elliott-backed directors took the board from Vivendi.
Read the caseXu Yi was an anime fan who created a site for Hatsune Miku fans. His hobby grew into a major Chinese video platform worth billions.
Read the caseMichael LaCour fabricated data in a Science study claiming gay canvassers changed minds on marriage. The study had already influenced real policy.
Read the caseItalian jeweler Morellato fined €25.9M for capping online discounts and banning Amazon and eBay.
Read the caseVietnam's FPT-backed e-commerce platform shut down its general marketplace in 2025, then its grocery pivot in 2026 — two exits, one retreat from e-commerce.
Read the caseGermany's electronic health card ran by consensus for 15 years. Auditors found no practical benefit - and a bill nobody could total.
Read the caseBitMEX pioneered crypto perpetual swaps and held 57% of the market in 2019. After $200M+ in fines, rivals took the volume and it shut down in Sept 2026.
Read the caseEight days after the Times story the board fired him; five months later the studio named for him was bankrupt and its 277-film library sold for $289M.
Read the caseA failed cooling system at Vipshop's Nansha data centre knocked out service for 8M+ customers, caused ¥100M+ in losses, and cost the platform VP his job
Read the caseThe DfT picked FirstGroup for the West Coast line in August 2012, then cancelled the award weeks later after finding errors in its own bid evaluation.
Read the caseThe market regulator imposed a record ¥5.179 billion penalty for 'choose one' exclusive dealing and price-fixing on hotel partners
Read the caseGompyo Wheat Beer, brewed by SevenBrew under a flour brand's licence, was 97% of its sales. When the licence ended in 2023, SevenBrew slid into receivership.
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