Daily Business Zen: Worst Screw Ups.
Came accross this the other day. At neatorama they put together a list of the stupidest business decisions ever. And I wanted to share them with you to ensure we never repeat this history! Here is the top 5 and a sneek peak.
1) Turning Down the Beatles - Finally, Rowe told the band’s manager that the label wasn’t interested, because they sounded too much like a popular group called The Shadows. In one of the most famous of all rejection lines, he said: “Not to mince words, Mr. Epstein, but we don’t like your boys’ sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars particularly are finished.”
2) Turning down E.T. - The Mars brothers said “No.”
3) Selling M*A*S*H for peanuts - They decided to raise cash by selling the syndication rights to the first seven seasons of M*A*S*H on a futures basis: local TV stations could pay in 1975 for shows they couldn’t broadcast until October 1979 - four years away. Fox made no guarantees that the should would still be popular; $13,000 per episodes was non-refundable. But enough local stations took the deal so that Fox made $25 million. They celebrated …
4) What use is the Telephone, the Electrical Toy - Orton bypassed Hubbard and drafted a response directly to the inventor. “Mr. Bell,” he wrote, “after careful consideration of your invention, while it is a very interesting novelty, we have come to the conclusion that it has no commercial possibilities… What use could this company make of an electrical toy?”
5) Lets Make Snot Beer. - Uihlein cut the amount of time it took to brew Schlitz from 40 days to 15, and replaced much of the barley malt in the beer with corn syrup - which was cheaper. He also switched from one type of foam stabilizer to another to get around new labeling laws that would have required the original stabilizer to be disclosed on the label.
Enjoy!
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