BUSINESS SPECIAL.................... 5 BLUNDERS THAT BUSINESSES LIVED TO REGRET

5 BLUNDERS THAT BUSINESSES LIVED TO REGRET



These business bloopers cost companies a lot of money 

ABC TURNING DOWN BILL COSBY

In 1984, Bill Cosby approached ABC about buying his sitcom which centred around a wealthy black family.Unfortunately, they turned down his proposal. ABC was worried about the fact that viewers would find the unrealistic portrayal of an upscale and well-educated black household incredulous. Bill Cosby went on to sell his show to NBC and it was the network's #1 show four years on the trot and became the most profitable series on television.

XEROX LETTING APPLE INTO THEIR LAIR

In the 1980s, Apple offered Xerox $1 million of stock to allow a good number of Apple employees (including Steve Jobs) to visit their facility for three days. Apple went on to leverage the knowledge they acquired at Xerox to build the modern personal computer and today the company is worth $110 billion dollars. Xerox sued Apple in the late 1980s for using their Graphical User Interface technology, but the case was dismissed.

THE RECORD COMPANY THAT REFUSED THE BEATLES

The iconic British band The Beatles were eager to get a record deal. They were nervous during their audition but confident in their chances of snatching it. Decca's A&R representative, Mike Smith, decided to sign another band because he felt `'guitar groups were on their way out.'' That was undoubtedly the greatest bungle he ever made. Rest, as they say is history.

THE AWKWARD AOLTIME WARNER MERGER

When AOL and Time Warner announced their amalgamation in 2000, it received a lot of press and hoopla. Unfortunately, by the time the companies ANIRBAN BORA divorced, their collective value had plummeted from $300 billion to $40 billion. The deflation was mostly due to culture clashes, leadership differences and bursting of the dot com bubble.

JC PENNEY ELIMINATING SALES

The department store strived to excel among competitors, so CEO Ron Johnson came up with a new strategy: to eliminate `'sales'' and `'fake prices''. Instead, they would make everyday prices reflect the previous sales prices and wouldn't price items ending in 9 but use whole figures. Eventually, it turned out to be a blunder. That customers preferred to feel like they were getting a bargain, because JCPenny's revenue dropped 25% that year, and almost 20,000 employees had to be pink-slipped.

(Excerpted from Business Insider)

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