10 Most Expensive Mistakes Ever Made
Humans are so full of errors that we often overlook some of them, we mean the MINOR ones.
You’d understand this better when we tell you about certain mistakes that could not
be forgiven, no matter how hard we tried!
Well, we aren’t talking about criminal activities here, OBVIOUSLY!
The focus here is on money matters, after all money MATTERS!
So would you be able to forgive someone who spoilt a project you invested millions in?
If you think you can sit through a video replete with many such instances without cringing,
here you go!
Number 10.
The sale of Alaska Some of you might not know that Alaska once
belonged to Russia and it was only in 1867 that the property changed hands or should
we say changed countries!
Alexander II of Russia regarded Alaska only as an ice-covered land and the fast becoming
critical situation played an important reason for the sale of Alaska to US.
The deal was signed at $7.2 million which might have been an okay deal back then but
looking at the current scenario, it isn’t so.
Within 50 years, US had earned back 100 times over due to the vast natural resources of
the area.
We clearly know who was benefiting!
Number 9.
Skyscraper that melts cars Nicknamed 'The Walkie-Talkie' because of its
distinctive shape, this 34-storey skyscraper is the sixth-tallest building in the City
of London and the 12th tallest in London.
Architect Rafael Viñoly designed the building a highly distinctive top-heavy form which
appears to burst upward and outward.
After spending over £200 million on its construction, it was awarded the 2015 Carbuncle Cup for
the worst new building in the UK in the previous 12 months!
Why?
The design of the building made it act like a giant mirror that reflected of a beam of
light up to six times brighter than direct sunlight shining onto the streets beneath
and damaging parked vehicles.
In fact people tried cooking eggs in a pan on the street because temperatures rose to
196 °F!
Number 8.
Antique guitar destroyed for a movie scene If you have seen The Hateful Eight by Quentin
Tarantino, then you know about the scene where Kurt Russell snatches a guitar from Jennifer
Jason Leigh and broke it.
Well, it was a mistake!
The guitar was a real 150-year-old rarity, rented from the Martin Guitar Museum which
was to be replaced with a cheaper version right before the breaking shot.
So what happened?
Well, Russell wasn’t told this switch and he broke the original one in the flow.
The good thing is that Jennifer’s reaction of shock was real but it cost them a priceless
guitar!
Number 7.
An expensive bridge that wobbled A very dramatic story is attached to the Millennium
Bridge in London.
It is a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the river Thames linking Bankside
with the City of London.
So far so good, then where is the drama?
Patience people, opened in June 2000 the bridge was closed on the same day and after 2 days
of limited access, it was closed for almost two years.
Sounds funny right?
Well, the bridge unexpected swaying motion when pedestrians crossed it in large numbers.
The condition worsened when the people synced their steps, hence it was named the "Wobbly
Bridge".
The bridged that cost £18.2 million originally, increased by another £5 million to carry
out reconstruction!
Number 6.
Wide wagons on narrow platforms This happened in 2014 when the SNCF railway
company decided to modernize the transport network.
What a good thought but it didn’t came out so well because of uhmm, mistakes in measurements!
For the 2,000 new trains ordered for €15 billion, they were given measurements for
stations designed in the last 30 years, and many platforms were older and a little narrower.
You guessed it right, there was an urgent need to widen those platforms if they didn’t
want the trains to go waste.
And this cost them an additional €50 million, just a small price!
Number 5.
Loss of Mars Climate Orbiter NASA developed the Mars Climate Orbiter to
study the climate on Mars.
A good step towards knowledge and discovery but nothing went as planned.
Contact with the ship was lost while it was in space but the most shocking thing is the
reason behind it!
One NASA crew used imperial units and another used metric.
For that reason, information failed to transfer between the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft
team at Lockheed Martin in Colorado and the mission navigation team in California.
As a result, the orbiter entered the atmosphere of Mars too low and collapsed.
Nobody expected human error to cost a whole orbiter!
Number 4.
Typo loses shares worth millions 2005 was a bad year for the Japanese company,
Mizuho Securities Co. and we wonder who they blame for it!
Well the company wanted to sell one share for ¥610,000 (about $5,000) on the Tokyo
Stock Exchange.
What could go wrong with this?
It seems a stockbroker hadn’t had enough sleep and made a little mistake when entering
the data.
He put up for sale 610,000 shares for only ¥1 each.
We can see horror in your eyes.
Though the company protested against it, the order was processed, costing the company a
loss of 27 billion Yen or $225 million!
Who has a heart to bear it?
Number 3.
Vasa, the sunken ship Vasa, built by the king’s order, was to
become the flagship of the 17th-century Swedish navy.
It would have been a symbol of glory, sadly it sank right after leaving the shipyard.
What an irony!
Well, the design of the ship was very unstable with its top being heavy but nobody dared
say this to the King who was getting impatient to see his ship.
The result as you already know, was a disaster!
Isn’t this the ideal example of “better late than never”?
Number 2.
Hard drive worth millions thrown into trash Englishman James Howell collected 7,500 bitcoins
back in 2009 when they were easy enough to earn.
He could have easily turned into a millionaire years later when digital currency became popular
but that did not happen.
The man had kept the hard drive for years in a drawer but while having a clearout of
his old IT equipment, it was thrown in the bin!
You can well imagine what the man must have gone through after realizing what he had done.
James went to the landfill site in south Wales which was the size of a football field so
there wasn’t a lot he could do.
Man, you have our sympathy!
Number 1.
10% Apple shares In a universe where things worked out a bit
differently, Ronald Wayne would be a billionaire.
Few people know that along with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Wayne was one of the partners
with 10 percent stake in the company.
But just 12 days after the birth of the company, he sold his shares for just $800!
We could call Ronald Wayne as the man who won the lottery but lost the ticket!
Aged 80, he lives on his Social Security checks and money made selling rare coins and stamps
over the Internet.
Well, he does not regret his decision but we look things in a different light!
Which of these mistakes would you have forgiven?
Tell us in the comment section below.
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