The most expensive mistakes in history

From sunken ships in the deep sea to nuclear disasters and heavy human losses, where blunders reveal the seriousness of the losses that companies can cause, as they may amount to tens of billions of dollars, and from the gloom of events, it sometimes seems that fixing these problems is nothing more than sending an email, but the bitter truth reveals that they are inevitable failure stories from the beginning, and sometimes, these mistakes take on a personal character, as they change the course of individuals' lives in a way that is not Expectedly, as happened with the former employee at Apple who sold his 10% stake for a pittance, regardless of the size of the investment in giant engineering projects or the number of bright minds working on them, the possibility of error still exists, as if humanity is destined to always stumble on the top of the mountains of success.

Isaac Peral's non-floating submarine

In 2013, the Spanish government paid more than $2.2 billion to create the new and advanced Isaac Peral submarine, but the sad surprise was when it was discovered that the submarine could not float, when examining the design, it turned out that there was an error in the calculations that made the submarine very heavy, but fortunately, the design did not reach the manufacturing stage, but this difficult step cost the government huge losses of money.

SNCF trains

In France in 2014, after investing in a new transport project worth a whopping more than $20.5 billion, SNCF discovered that 2,000 new trains were too wide to pass safely through each other on tracks. This fatal error in dimensions led to huge financial losses.

Houses on an abandoned mine

In South Dakota, in the United States, in 2020, residents of a neighborhood discovered that their homes were built on top of an abandoned mine. This discovery came after the appearance of a hole in the ground while a resident was mowing grass, and this discovery cost them their warm homes in which they lived their entire life and all their memories of them, and the losses were estimated at millions of dollars, and that is not the moral losses, of course.

The sinking of the Titanic

In 1912, the Titanic was considered such a remarkable feat of engineering that its maker made the famous phrase at the time: "God cannot even drown it." But on her first voyage she crashed into an iceberg and because of this catastrophic mistake the Titanic sank so that there is a wonderful film by famous Hollywood artists Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio produced in 1999 that embodies that difficult tragedy, and the financial losses are estimated at about $ 7.5 million (equivalent to $ 400 million today), in addition to the enormous human losses that Invaluable.

Auckland's Failed Adventure

In New Zealand in 2019, that funny and difficult incident occurred, where an individual decided to make a big mistake by parking a new SUV on Auckland Beach and of course it got stuck in the sand, and the funny thing is that when an excavator was sent to extract the car, it was also stuck in the sand and mud for three days, which cost the Marine Club in Little Shull Bay losses of about $ 50,000.

Star Wars rights sold to George Lucas

In 2013, legendary director George Lucas made a historic decision when he sold the rights to the series "Star Wars" to Disney for $ 4 billion, and the deal included the rights to films and merchandise associated with the series. Using it to support education reflects his deep vision of social responsibility and makes him an example in the business world. He thought that the value of sales alone had generated revenues estimated at $ 3 billion, and some felt that Lucas may have made a mistake when he did not separate the two deals, especially since he did not make any personal profit from the sale of this famous chain, but rather transferred the money to an educational institution to support disadvantaged children, making his decision noble and rare in such major deals.

The fatal mistake in the Tokyo Stock Exchange

In 2005, the Tokyo Stock Exchange experienced one of the most horrific errors in trading history due to a typing error, and this blundering is a stark example of how small details can lead to serious consequences. A trader at Mizuho Securities tried to sell 610,000 shares at one yen each, while intending to sell one share at 610,000 yen. This simple printing error led to losses of more than $200 million, caused a great stir in the financial circles, a thorough investigation was opened to find out how this fatal error occurred, and it was very embarrassing for everyone involved, and Kaoru Yusano, Japan's economic director at the time, called for a quick resolution of the case to maintain the credibility of the stock exchange.

The Japanese Stock Exchange experienced difficult moments, and this event became a harsh lesson for everyone about the importance of accuracy and attention at every step.

Challenger disaster

In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger launched on its tenth flight, but that flight in the blink of an eye turned into a disaster when the shuttle disintegrated only 76 seconds after launch over the Atlantic Ocean and you will not imagine how shocking the moment of the explosion was for the whole world, everyone who watched the launch live lived moments of horror and deep sadness, and this incident was a bitter reminder that spaceflight is still risky and not just fun adventures, and that advanced technology Of course, NASA's decision to suspend launches was a necessary step to reassess all its systems and ensure that such a tragedy does not happen again, as this accident caused an estimated $3.2 billion in damage, along with the loss of seven astronauts' lives. This loss was difficult for NASA, which led to the suspension of space shuttle launches for three years, and failed seals due to cold weather were the main reason behind this tragic accident.

Pit Lake Pinor

In 1980, Lake Pinor in Louisiana experienced a bizarre incident when the Texas Oil Company's drilling caused a massive landslide. The scene that formed was amazing, as the earth swallowed everything around it in moments, trees, buildings and even heavy machinery disappeared in the blink of an eye, and it was like a science fiction movie, but it was a painful reality, the people who witnessed the disaster were in shock and daze, and talking about the incident became the talk of the hour for many years, you will not believe that the crater swallowed more than 65 acres of surrounding land, turning the lake from 10 feet deep to deep 200 feet, but despite the disaster, 55 workers working at the mine at the time survived, and Texasco paid $50 million in damages to affected local companies. These losses were difficult for the company and the surrounding community.

Refusal to sign a contract with the Beatles

In the sixties, the Beatles were looking for a recording contract, and they were in talks with Dhaka Records. However, Dick Rowe, the company's head of A&R, refused to sign a contract with them, saying that "guitar bands are on their way to extinction." This mistake was one of the biggest in the history of the music industry, as the Beatles became one of the most expensive bands in the world, grossing billions of dollars. This decision is considered one of the most costly and loss-making mistakes in the music industry.

This rejection was a missed opportunity that will not be repeated, the Beatles have become a symbol of music and artistic innovation, and the voice of an entire generation, and Rowe's decision has become a lesson and a sermon, as it is an example that people circulate about the importance of seeing the future and being able to identify real talents, Frogh himself never imagined that this decision was caused by a narrow-minded and would cost him all that heartbreak and regret, while the Beatles continued to make history, while the story of this rejection remained a harsh lesson for everyone who underestimates creativity and talent.

Statue of the "Potato Head" in Palencia

In 2020, the Spanish city of Palencia witnessed one of the worst art restorations when an old statue turned into something like a "potato head", and it is funny that this failed attempt was to save restoration costs and instead of saving it was a disaster by all standards, as the statue was subjected to a major distortion that aroused the resentment of the local population, the losses of this fatal mistake were estimated at $ 11 million, but the real loss was in the distortion of a piece of history, and the restoration process that was supposed to To preserve the beauty of the statue and its original spirit, turned into an aesthetic and cultural disaster that you may consider a funny incident, but the people who saw the statue after the restoration did not believe their eyes, and anger and criticism were widespread, and this mistake became the talk of the media and people, and sparked discussions about the importance of preserving the artistic heritage and respecting its details, and simply, as the predecessor said in the past, I give bread to his baker!

SpaceX rocket explosion

In 2020, Elon Musk's SpaceX company – the famous owner of the X site and many successful famous projects and whose name was repeated in the famous Johnny Depp and Amber Heard case – witnessed a massive explosion of its rocket during the launch. It was a reminder that space is still full of challenges and risks, no matter how much we imagine that we can solve its puzzles and puzzles, but we still have many surprises ahead, and it is surprising that despite the loss, the spirit of optimism and determination of Musk and his team was clear. "The fuel tank pressure was low during the burn subsidence, causing high speed when landing, but we got all the data we needed," he tweeted. These losses were difficult for the company, but they did not prevent it from continuing its ambitious space exploration projects.