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Before there was Facebook, there was MySpace, once the world’s most dominating social networking company. In the summer of 2005, one of the biggest deals in internet history made headlines when News Corp., famously known as Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, acquired MySpace for $580 million in cash. In the business realm, it seemed that with the backing of the media giant, MySpace would have the world at its fingertips. And to the outside, it appeared that Myspace was going to be unstoppable. Find out how MySpace got unfriended on Episode 51 of The Great Fail. * Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.
We’re doing a special episode on cryptocurrency this week and covering what occurred in May of 2022 when the world watched as one of the biggest projects imploded. Once valued at $400 billion, the project was known as TerraUST, a stablecoin that was going to transform the crypto market and the way that traditional payments would be made in the future. Instead, investors watched as its market value dropped by almost 99% within 24 hours. What led to this death spiral and more importantly, what does the future hold for crypto investors? Our special guest Omid Malekan, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, will break down the story in Episode 50 of The Great Fail. TERRA SOURCES How a Trash-Talking Crypto Founder Caused a $40 Billion Crash https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/18/technology/terra-luna-cryptocurrency-do-kwon.html Terra Was Too Big to Fail, and It Failed: Bloomberg Crypto https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-05-12/terra-ust-was-too-big-to-fail-and-it-failed-bloomberg-crypto TerraUSD’s collapse will take down every other algorithmic stablecoin, crypto analysts say https://fortune.com/2022/05/19/luna-terrausd-ust-algorithmic-stablecoins-doomed/#:~:text=People%20rushed%20to%20redeem%20their,value%20in%20about%2024%20hours. TerraUSD ‘stablecoin’ delisted from crypto exchanges https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/may/13/terrausd-stablecoin-crypto-exchanges How $60 Billion in Terra Coins Went Up in Algorithmic Smoke https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-crypto-luna-terra-stablecoin-explainer/#xj4y7vzkg The Fall of Terra: A Timeline of the Meteoric Rise and Crash of UST and LUNA https://www.coindesk.com/learn/the-fall-of-terra-a-timeline-of-the-meteoric-rise-and-crash-of-ust-and-luna/ The Terra (LUNA) Collapse: 4 Lessons To Be Learned (Opinion) https://cryptopotato.com/4-valuable-lessons-from-terras-collapse-opinion/ The Real Reasons Behind the Crypto Crash, and What We Can Learn from Terra’s Fall https://time.com/6177567/terra-ust-crash-crypto/ Luna Crypto Crash: What Happened To Terra Luna? https://www.gfinityesports.com/cryptocurrency/luna-crypto-crash/ Who is Do Kwon, the ‘lunatic’ who created a $60 billion cryptocurrency that collapsed in days? https://fortune.com/2022/05/18/who-is-do-kwon-luna-ust-crypto-founder-rise-and-fall/ Crypto investors contemplate SUICIDE and hide from friends seeking revenge for losing their life savings as currency crashes to zero https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10823197/Terra-Luna-crypto-crash-investors-suicidal-friends-seek-retribution-millions-lost.html Terra LUNA Investors Lose Everything In 98 Percent Plunge, Suicide Hotline Posted At Top Of Forum https://moguldom.com/408010/terra-luna-investors-lose-everything-in-98-percent-plunge-suicide-hotline-posted-at-top-of-forum/ All Those Celebrities Pushing Crypto Are Not So Vocal Now https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/17/business/media/crypto-gwyneth-paltrow-matt-damon-reese-witherspoon.html * See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Back in the early 2000s, the Von Dutch ubiquitous trucker hats were seen everywhere- and their line of denim brought us the classic low-rise, sometimes frayed at the hem, sometimes with tons of bling, but never without the iconic “Von Dutch” stamped logo. That uniquely distinctive font bared the cool culture Americana aesthetic. Von Dutch’s popularity was so tremendous that in 2003, the Company was raking in $33 million in sales from their jackets, denim, t-shirts, and trucker- until the brand got hit with counterfeiting. But the story of Von Dutch isn’t just about rhinestones and rip-offs, it was a story about deception, betrayal, murder, and a scandal that would serve as the epitaph of its tombstone. Find out how it all went down in Episode 49 of The Great Fail. Join Retail Brew's community of retail professionals by subscribing here https://www.retailbrew.com/subscribe?utm_campaign=rtb_072022&utm_medium=partnership&utm_source=greatfail! SOURCES: Inside The Messy, Chaotic Downfall Of Von Dutch https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/what-happened-to-von-dutch-founder-owner-controversy A New Docuseries Explores the Rise and Fall of Von Dutch https://www.vogue.com/article/von-dutch-new-hulu-docuseries Drug fronts, murder, and Paris Hilton: the rise and fall of Von Dutch https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/54875/1/drug-murder-paris-hilton-britney-spears-rise-fall-curse-of-von-dutch-hayu-y2k The Untold Story of Von Dutch https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/style/von-dutch-hulu-documentary.html Wikipedia: Von Dutch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Dutch S.C. man shot dead in Venice Beach https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79973845/mark-rivas-venice-beach/ How Von Dutch’s Trucker Hat Empire Ended in Chaos and Death https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-von-dutchs-trucker-hat-empire-ended-in-chaos-and-death 1999 Week https://www.avclub.com/star-wars-v-matrix-santana-v-smash-mouth-and-y2k-pa-1836970492 Before There Was Snapchat: A Look Back At The Biggest Stars Of 1999 https://www.vh1.com/news/fefnwk/biggest-stars-of-1999 * See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
This week we’re releasing a bonus episode from one of our sister podcasts on the Adweek Podcast Network called The Speed of Culture Podcast https://www.adweek.com/podcasts/the-speed-of-culture-podcast/. In this episode, host Matt Britton talks to Ken Ohashi about bringing a brand’s DNA into focus. Ken is a marketing expert with years of experience in the retail industry with brands like Aéropostale, and the Authentic Brands Group. Having acquired the iconic suit brand Brooks Brothers prior to the pandemic, Ken found himself navigating a new, potential post-office wear world during the Covid 19 pandemic and what that means for a brand synonymous with formal wear. We’ll return in 2 weeks with another episode of The Great Fail. Thanks to our partners Adweek and Acast. www.TheGreatFail.com /www.TheGreatFail.com * See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Get ready to hear about the most scandalous retail pharmacy chain of all time that was Phar-Mor. We hear about companies and financial misconduct frequently–stories of cooked books and misappropriated funds are hardly rare, but often leave us questioning–how do companies manage to pull these off, and more importantly how do they get past trained professionals, auditors and investors? In this episode, our featured guest Professor Kelly Richmond Pope of DePaul University, a forensic accounting expert with a specialty in corporate crime, will explain how an accident exposed a $1 billion fraud and took down one of the nation’s largest retail chains. Listen now to Episode 48 on The Great Fail. * See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Who doesn’t remember Kmart? At its height, Kmart was the second-largest retailer in the United States, operating 2,400 stores with 350,000 employees. The company was generating around $37 billion a year in sales, ranking 2nd to Sears. But by 1990 it would see a tectonic shift, with its fortunes beginning to change. Find out how a series of missteps and poor management would bring down an American staple that had ruled retail for over 100 years. Listen now to Episode 47 on The Great Fail. * See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Carrian Group was a tale made for fiction, running the gamut of corruption, human greed, fraudulent accounting, and false profits that spanned across countries. Despite it being almost 4 decades since the collapse of this huge conglomerate, we still don’t know the full story - but what we do know was that behind this catastrophic failure stood some very fascinating characters-The Prime Minister of Malaysia, a charismatic CEO, several government officials, some high-level executives and between them, all aligning to create a labyrinth of business dealings that would blow up into a high-profile investigation, the murder of an auditor, and a mysterious drowning, eventually ending up as one of the largest bankruptcies in Hong Kong history. Find out how it went down on Episode 46 of The Great Fail. * See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Many regarded Jawbone as one of the pioneers in wearables. After making its mark as a Bluetooth headset maker, it pivoted to capitalize on the new and highly desirable fitness tracking market. This pivot and expansion into a hot new area allowed Jawbone to attract funding from top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firms and helped them amass a world-class board that included Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer and Warner Music Group’s COO Robert Wiesenthal. With all the funding in the place and the right team behind it, it seemed like Jawbone would be unstoppable. So how did a groundbreaking industry pioneer find itself entangled in corporate espionage, public embarrassment, and a string of unhappy customers? Get the full story on Episode 45 of The Great Fail. For full show notes please visit www.TheGreatFail.com. * See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In September 2021, Sean Gotcher, a Nevada-based real-estate agent, released an infamous TikTok video that ignited a tremendous amount of attention and criticism after alluding to a real estate iBuyer that may have been fixing home prices and engaging in market manipulation. Although many claimed this to be outrageous speculation, it would be a few weeks later when Zillow announced that it was shutting down its home-flipping business, Zillow Offers, after losing $381 million. Did Gotcher’s video accelerate the collapse of Zillow’s iBuying division? Find out how it went down in Episode 44 of The Great Fail. * See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Cinephile and film enthusiast, Stacy Spikes sought to reinvent the way people watched movies. His answer was MoviePass, a subscription-based service that allowed people to watch any movie, at any theater, at any time for one monthly fee. It was ground-breaking, well-suiting the Company to disrupt an entire industry. But what occurred next would see MoviePass topple from being a blockbuster hit to a box-office bomb. A special thanks to Stacy Spikes for sharing his experience in founding MoviePass. Get that and more on a special Encore Episode of The Great Fail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Since the 1930s, Ayds was a popular appetite suppressant touted by Hollywood celebrities and starlets. Despite being a success and household name for over 40 years, Ayds would find itself at the precipice of a PR nightmare, eventually, “crowning” itself as one of the greatest product flops in history. Find out how it all went down in Episode 43 of The Great Fail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The rise and fall of Circuit City is a fascinating tale full of ups and downs, when one Company paved the path and dominated the consumer electronics market only to perish after almost 6 decades. From having the largest selections, the best prices, and the brightest talent, Circuit City went from an all-American retail success story to one of the greatest failures in corporate history. Find out how on The Great Fail, Episode 42. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On June 22, 2020 Microsoft’s live game streaming service, Mixer, made a stunning announcement. After 4 years of building out its channel for gamers and its beloved community of streamers and fans, they were shutting down. As millions of Mixer active users, and even their own employees were blindsided by the news, it begged the question that was on everyone’s mind- how could this have happened to Microsoft, one of the most powerful and endemic gaming companies in the world? Featuring special guest Phil Ranta CEO of Wormhole Labs, previously Head of Gaming Creators, North America at Facebook, and the Head of Creators at Mobcrush. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The DeLorean was one of the most era-defining cars of the ‘80s. Sleek, sexy, and unconventional, this iconic car had much promise-- engineering ingenuity, celebrity fanfare, and media hype. But less than a year after it rolled out its first cars, the Company would collapse in a tailspin of lies, drug scandal, bankruptcy, racketeering, criminal trials, and government conspiracies. Find out what led to the downfall of the DeLorean Motor Company on Episode 40 of The Great Fail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Great Fail is coming back with Season 2 on January 26, 2022! In the meantime, enjoy a new show from our friends at Wondery. During the 1-900 number craze of the Nineties, one company provided the vast majority of phone sex. American Telnet was an empire founded by the man who called himself “The Telephone Pimp.” He ran the company “like General Motors” and got filthy rich doing it. But for the (mostly) women who answered the calls and delivered fantasies 24-7, it was a different story. The powerful stigma against sex work was always lurking just beneath the surface, until it threatened to tear apart the whole company. Hosted by Tina Horn (Why Are People Into That?), OPERATOR is an eight-part series about big ambitions, Shakespearean-level corporate backstabbing, men and women at the cutting edge of a technological revolution...and on the front lines of a sexual one. Listen to Operator now! http://wondery.fm/OP_The_Great_Fail Special thanks to our partners at AdvertiseCast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On February 21, 2020, Mitchell Modell, CEO of the largest family-owned sporting goods retailer in the United States went on national TV and made a shocking announcement-he asked viewers to help save his company from financial collapse. The 130-year-old brand at one point was a fixture in the northeast U.S. as the premier sporting goods retailer. Find out how Modell’s winning streak came to an end on Episode 39 of The Great Fail. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Leather seats, marble floors, chrome buckles, and pearl necklaces- that was just the beginning of the luxurious Trump Shuttle saga. Back in 1989, Donald J. Trump, graced the covers of Time Magazine with the byline “Young, handsome and ridiculously rich.” He had just acquired Trump Plaza and with his growing casinos in Atlantic City, was looking to further boost his business brand by adding a luxury airline to his empire. But in less than 3 years, Trump Shuttle would be seeing its final descent. Get the story on Episode 38 of The Great Fail. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In its heyday, Pier 1 Imports had 18,000 employees and over 1,000 stores worldwide, bringing us the most eclectic and quirky array of home furnishing design and décor products-- from love beads, exotic rattan chairs to other treasured goods. For over 5 decades, Pier 1 took the reins of the home décor retail market, never thinking that its wares would ever go out of style. Find out how Pier 1 sank on Episode 37 of The Great Fail. Thank you to our sponsor Inkl.com and to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Cinephile and film enthusiast, Stacy Spikes sought to reinvent the way people watched movies. His answer was MoviePass, a subscription-based service that allowed people to watch any movie, at any theater, at any time for one monthly fee. It was ground-breaking, well-suiting the Company to disrupt an entire industry. But what occurred next would see MoviePass topple from being a blockbuster hit to a box-office bomb. A special thanks to Stacy Spikes for sharing his experience in founding MoviePass. Get that and more on Episode 36 of The Great Fail. Thank you to our sponsor Ping Identity and to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For over 4 decades, Tower Records was a pioneer in the music industry and the bedrock of record store culture. It was run by rebels and outsiders, where founder Russ Solomon was revered and idolized. Tower would become the mecca for music fans creating a generation that lived by their diehard slogan, “No Music, No Life”. For decades, it seemed like the sun would never set on the iconic yellow and red letters that illuminated so many urban cityscapes. But that light would eventually burn out. Find our how on The Great Fail. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail Thank you to our sponsors at Ping Identity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On April 9, 2017, passengers of United Airlines Flight 3411 watched as aviation officers dragged out a fellow passenger, Dr. David Dao. He was one of the individuals involuntarily bumped off the plane after United Airlines overbooked its flight. Ripped from his seat by law enforcement officers, Dr. Dao was knocked unconscious-- his glasses falling off his face, and his body dragged by the arms down the aisle, leaving a trail of blood and bodily fluids in his wake. If that wasn’t shocking enough, it was what occurred afterward that continued to shock the entire world. Tune in to Episode 35 of The Great Fail, for the public relations nightmare that was United Airlines Flight 3411. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
By 1995, Calgary's Bre-X became a $6 billion company when it declared it had discovered the world's largest gold mine within the jungles of Indonesia. What followed years later would entail all the elements of a Hollywood story: lies, betrayal, the collapse of an empire and a badly decomposed body. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail Thank you to our sponsors at Ping Identity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When HQ Trivia went live in 2018, it was an instant hit, generating a tremendous amount of mass appeal and gaining an immediate cult following that went beyond anyone’s expectations. They also had the blessings of the most influential people-from the celebrity world to the investment world. What would follow would be a set of glitches, cheating bots, internal turmoil, a toxic work environment, mismanagement of funds, and a tragic drug overdose. Get the full scoop on what led to the downfall of one of the biggest blockbuster app launches. Check out Episode 34 on The Great Fail. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When Vince McMahon announced that he would be creating a new football league-- a grittier, more violent, and more entertaining version called the XFL, many seemed to think this idea would be an ultimate touchdown. When the highly anticipated, highly publicized event premiered on NBC in February of 2001, it received 54 million television viewers that weekend, the most the network had ever seen at one time. But a series of fumbles and mishaps would lead to the original XFL becoming one of the worst shows in history. Mark Perry, editor, and founder of XFL News Hub joins us this week to break it down from the club seats. Check out Episode 33 on The Great Fail. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On March 26, 2021, the financial world awoke to the news that rattled some of Wall Street’s biggest players. To the outside world, and at the center of it all were some unfamiliar and obscure names-- Archegos Capital and its Founder Bill Hwang. The word on the street was that Archegos defaulted on billions of dollars of loans, creating a contagion amongst some of the world’s biggest banks that now faced billion-dollar losses. What would be uncovered would become one of the most astounding and outrageous financial failures in modern-day history, which all could’ve been entirely preventable. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail And special thanks to our sponsor this week: Mint Mobile Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kodak dominated the consumer photography market for over a century and their downfall seems to be obvious in their inability to adapt to the digital age. But when you look closer at the company’s history, you’ll come to see that ironically what made them so successful was what ultimately killed off the Company. John Kotter, best-selling author, and professor at Harvard Business School will help break down how Kodak was a lesson in how a series of mistakes, including the culture at Kodak, could forever damage a once picture-perfect pioneer. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail And special thanks to our sponsor this week: Ping Identity Podcast Smith A.I. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Theranos’ groundbreaking proprietary technology promised to revolutionize healthcare with just a drop of blood from a finger prick. The company, led by its founder Elizabeth Holmes, would raise over $900 million and become a darling in the tech community. That is until a Wall Street Journal exposé revealed a scandal that astounded and paralyzed the entire VC and medical world, unraveling the $9 billion organization. Justin Maxwell, a former employee and one of the lead designers speaks about what makes an organization toxic and why the corporate culture within Theranos was the precise environment that allowed for the cover-up of secrecy, paranoia, and deception. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail And special thanks to our sponsor this week: Mint Mobile Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When Borders was founded in 1971, it was one of the most pioneering companies in the book business quickly becoming one of the most dominant players in the space. For 40 years, it was known as one of the retail behemoths, but then came the digital age…Border’s last CEO Mike Edwards discusses what we all can learn about digital transformation, the evolution of businesses, and lessons from managing a Company on the brink of failure. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail And special thanks to our sponsor this week: Mint Mobile Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant company, made a shocking announcement in late 2019 when it abruptly removed its CEO Steve Easterbrook. What would be uncovered would include individual and class-action lawsuits alleging attempted rape, sexual harassment, and blurred lines spurred by the #MeToo movement that would rock the corporate world and dethrone what everyone thought was the golden boy of the golden arches. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail And special thanks to our sponsor this week: Work Social Mint Mobile Ping Identity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In January 2021, the world watched as Reddit traders faced off with Wall Street elites in a trading mania over GameStop shares. Matei Psatta, one of the traders of subreddit WallStreetBets, joins us this week to comment on what this means and why the financial markets may never be the same. Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail And special thanks to our sponsor this week: Work Social and Skillshare Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
