Facts About Terrible Investing Mishaps
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." —Samuel Beckett
From dot-com businesses that lost their bubble, movies that fizzled at the box office, athletes who blundered their way into spectacular losses, and products that laid an egg, here are some epic investment fails.
1. Fame Without Success
Described as the car that found fame but not success, the futuristic DeLorean has gone down in history as the best known failed car. The cool, stainless steel sports car boasting gull-wing doors might have done some time-travel in the Back to the Future movies, but consumers never went along for the ride. Instead, the company, founded by automobile executive John DeLorean in 1973, crashed into consumer indifference and cash flow problems. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1982 after rolling out only 9,000 cars.
2. Future Flop
The epic failure of Ford’s Edsel motor car is legendary; Bill Gates even rates this investment flop as his favorite case study. Ford invested $400 million to launch the vehicle in 1958.
It was intended as a new kind of futuristic car, but Americans were unimpressed, preferring smaller, more economic vehicles.
The car of the future never took off, and by the time it was pulled off the market in late 1959, Ford had lost an estimated $250 million (roughly $2 billion in today’s currency).
3. Im-purrfect
Halle Berry might have used up one of her nine lives after earning a Worst Actress Golden Raspberry award for her 2004 movie Catwoman, but she did bounce back. Catwoman's director Jean-Christophe "Pitof" Comar, however, has not worked in the film industry since. The film is considered one of the worst movies of all time: It also picked up Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay. Made for $135 million, the movie took in only about $81 million at the box office.
4. Dog Fight
Not only has disgraced NFL quarterback Michael Vick served time for dog fighting, in 2008 he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sold his mansion in the Atlanta area.
Investments in several pursuits, such as a car rental business, Canadian real estate, and a boutique in Georgia, resulted in a deficit of $6 million for him.
Vick has bounced back in recent years, signing with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2009 and resigning with Nike in 2011.
