- 9 months ago
These 30 iconic brands were once powerful empires — but today, they’re just history. From Blockbuster to Kodak, Toys “R” Us, and MySpace, watch how some of the world’s biggest names rose and fell. 📉✨
Learn the shocking reasons behind their downfall and the lessons every business can learn.
👉 Don’t forget to Like, Share & Subscribe for more business stories and brand history.
Learn the shocking reasons behind their downfall and the lessons every business can learn.
👉 Don’t forget to Like, Share & Subscribe for more business stories and brand history.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Kodak Gold. No other film gives you truer, more consistent color, picture after picture.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:08And today, we're counting down our picks for the major brands that have disappeared or are much harder to find than they once were.
00:16Next time you're on the internet, go to the new Netscape.com.
00:21Number 30, Palm.
00:22Before smartphones came along, the Palm Pilot was the ultimate in wireless tech.
00:27Check out this Palm handheld from CompUSA. It manages your calendar, gets email.
00:33Palm PDAs, that's Personal Data Assistance, were revolutionary, allowing users to connect to the internet from anywhere.
00:41That might sound unimpressive now, but when the Pilot 1000 was introduced in 1996, it was a big deal.
00:47The handheld device was similar to a smartphone, though its screen was grayscale and it used a stylus rather than a touchscreen.
00:55It's actually a real computer that happens to be the most popular handheld computer there is right now.
01:00Got about 11 million people using them out there.
01:02But it had familiar apps like email and even included a feature similar to Airdrop, which allowed users to send info to other pilots.
01:11When smartphones started to take off in the 2010s, Palm tried to pivot, but it just couldn't keep up with Apple.
01:19Production of the PDAs was discontinued in 2011.
01:22Number 29. Lehman Brothers.
01:26This investment bank was a cornerstone of global finance.
01:30Founded by Henry Emanuel and Mayor Lehman in Alabama in the 1840s, the business started as a dry goods store before transitioning to commodities trading.
01:40It was a manic Monday in the financial markets.
01:43The Dow tumbled more than 500 points after two pillars of the street tumbled over the weekend.
01:50Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old firm, filed for bankruptcy.
01:54Eventually, it grew to become the fourth largest investment firm in the U.S.
01:58However, in the 2000s, the company made the fatal mistake of going all-in on subprime mortgages.
02:04When the housing bubble popped and the economy collapsed in 2008, Lehman Brothers went down with it.
02:11It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its assets were liquidated.
02:15Brought down by bad mortgage investments, Lehman, which has 25,000 employees, will be liquidated.
02:21It's hard to feel sorry for execs, who raked in hundreds of millions while costing other people their houses, jobs, and retirement funds.
02:29Pop culture wasn't too kind to Lehman Brothers as a result.
02:33Number 28, Borders.
02:36The internet has not been kind to brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially bookstores.
02:41Borders provides a broad selection of books, music, and DVD.
02:45With the rise of Amazon and e-readers, far fewer people are shopping for books in person, and stores are forced to adapt or die.
02:54Borders was founded in 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan by brothers Tom and Louis Borders.
02:59After opening their second location in 1985, the business took off, ballooning to more than 1,200 stores by 2003 and expanding all over the world.
03:10The company became a pioneer of the big-box bookseller concept.
03:14At its peak in 2003, Borders had more than 1,200 stores around the country, each with thousands of new titles.
03:22Unfortunately, 2006 was the last year the company turned a profit, and it filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
03:30You can still visit a Borders bookstore, but you'll have to travel to the Middle East to do it.
03:37Number 27, Hummer.
03:39In the 90s and early 2000s, Hummers were a bit like cyber trucks today.
03:45They were extremely conspicuous, not terribly practical, and people had strong opinions about them.
03:50Seeing the hulking proportions of a Hummer H2 SUV sitting next to you at a stoplight is a common and can be a humbling experience.
03:59But owners love these big utes and the image they project.
04:02The Hummer was actually a civilian version of a military vehicle called a Humvee.
04:07It was huge, lacked basic safety features like side airbags, and was a terrible gas guzzler, with some models getting as little as 10 miles per gallon in the city.
04:17As gas prices began to spike in the 2000s and consumers became more conscious of the emissions they were pumping into the atmosphere, demand for Hummers dropped.
04:27The last Hummer was produced in 2010, but General Motors has since revived the brand as an all-electric vehicle.
04:35It's really going to show the way of the capability and recreate the franchise that we have today in internal combustion engines into the EV world.
04:44Number 26, Blockbuster.
04:47We know there's technically still one Blockbuster left in Bend, Oregon.
04:52In downtown Bend, Oregon, you can find the last Blockbuster on Earth.
04:56It even released a viral ad on Instagram during Super Bowl 57.
05:00But aside from that, this once-great video rental store has gone the way of the VCR, much like its competitor Hollywood Video.
05:08Founded in 1985, Blockbuster was a staple of family movie nights for decades.
05:13It started with tapes before expanding to DVD and video game rentals.
05:17At its height, it had more than 9,000 locations around the globe.
05:21But as you might guess, competition from Netflix and other streaming services eventually spelled the end.
05:28When Blockbuster originally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy about six months ago, it said it would keep all 3,300 stores open.
05:36But tonight, as you can see at this Easttown store, it just could not survive.
05:40The craziest part is that Blockbuster had the chance to buy Netflix for just $50 million in 2000 and turned it down.
05:48Bad move, Blockbuster.
05:49Number 25, Napster.
05:51If you were old enough to be on the internet in 1999, you were on Napster.
05:57It was the original peer-to-peer service for sharing MP3s, and it was huge.
06:02It's going into like a candy store.
06:03You've got thousands of songs, anything you want, as much as you want.
06:07Although it could take hours to download a single song using dial-up internet,
06:11that didn't stop music lovers from building a collection of thousands of tracks.
06:16The service was so popular that it often jammed up college dorms' networks,
06:20and with some experts estimating that the music downloads made up 60% of online traffic at the time.
06:27We will have to say, you can either stop doing this or we'll have to disconnect the service.
06:33Of course, all of these songs were copyrighted,
06:36and creators weren't too happy with their work being shared for free.
06:39In 2000, Metallica and Dr. Dre sued the service for copyright infringement,
06:44and by mid-2001, it was forced to shut down.
06:47Number 24. Radio Shack
06:49If your dad or grandpa was really into ham radio back in the day,
06:54you probably visited a radio shack at least once.
06:57I don't really know what radio shack sells.
07:02I guess that's the problem.
07:04I mean, electronics parts.
07:06The electronics retailer started in 1921 as a mail-order business for amateur radio hobbyists.
07:12It slowly expanded to nine large stores.
07:16But that model didn't work well for the brand,
07:18and by the 1960s, it was in financial trouble.
07:22Charles Tandy of Tandy Leather Goods bought it out in 1962
07:25and reorganized it from a few big locations to multiple small ones.
07:30As technology evolved, Radio Shack started carrying computers, telephones, and VCRs.
07:36Their struggle hasn't been the real estate.
07:38Their struggle has been what to put in the stores,
07:39and they have continued to make some boneheaded decisions or just some bad bets.
07:45However, as with so many retailers, online shopping was its demise.
07:50It filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and 2017.
07:55Some locations remain today, but they bear little resemblance to the original brand.
08:00Number 23. Kmart
08:02Like Borders, there are still a few Kmarts out there.
08:06In the Virgin Islands and Guam,
08:08So here you have it, the last standing Kmart in the country.
08:12So attention, Kmart shoppers, there is a blue light special right here on Kendall Drive.
08:17Founded under the name Kreskys in 1899,
08:21the first true Kmart opened in San Fernando, California in 1962.
08:25Over the next 40 years, it expanded to thousands of stores,
08:29and its sales even outpaced Walmarts until 1990.
08:32But it was all downhill from there.
08:34It filed for bankruptcy in 2002, amidst the scandal in which the chairman and CEO
08:39were accused of misleading shareholders while spending the company's money
08:43on private jets and luxury yachts.
08:46In 2004, it merged with competitor Sears, but sales continued to decline.
08:52Kmart sales went into freefall, from $16 billion in 2009 to $5.8 billion in 2018.
08:58In 2018, Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy, and by 2024,
09:03nearly every Kmart and Sears location had closed.
09:07Number 22. RCA
09:09Founded in 1919, the Radio Corporation of America
09:13was the biggest name in electronics manufacturing for years.
09:17It even started the first nationwide broadcast network,
09:20the national broadcast company, better known today as NBC.
09:24The TRK-12's debut launched NBC's scheduled programming
09:28and an industry that would transform the world.
09:31When television came along, RCA jumped into that venture too.
09:35It showed off its first TV at the 1939 World's Fair
09:38and started experimental television broadcasts from NBC studios the same year.
09:43RCA remained profitable until the 80s,
09:46when General Electric bought it out for around $6 billion.
09:51GE promised that RCA operations would continue as usual, but that didn't happen.
09:56RCA audio, careful.
09:59It'll even make your parents' music sound great.
10:02Instead, the new owners broke up the company and sold it for parts.
10:06It turned out that General Electric had bought RCA just to get its hands on NBC.
10:11Number 21. F.W. Woolworth Company
10:14Australian viewers might be wondering what Woolworths is doing on this list,
10:19but we're not talking about the supermarket chain down under.
10:23Woolworths have so much more for you.
10:25We're referring to the American company started by Frank Winfield Woolworth in 1879.
10:31For more than a century, Woolworths was a cornerstone of American retail.
10:36It found early success by selling goods at ultra-competitive prices.
10:41By 1912, it had almost 600 locations across the eastern U.S.
10:46In the 80s, it expanded into malls,
10:49opening smaller stores that specialized in sporting goods, jewelry, and more.
10:53This move away from its original format would be Woolworths' undoing.
10:57It began neglecting its department store operations,
11:01which were outpaced by competitors.
11:03In 1997, the company announced it would close the last of its U.S. locations.
11:09The retailer in March 1997 was pulled from the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
11:14It was a slow and sad fall from grace for a retailer that started all the way back in 1879.
11:19Number 20. Worlds of Wonder
11:22Hi, I'm Teddy Ruxpin.
11:25Welcome to Worlds of Wonder
11:27and to the dawn of a brand new era in the evolution of toy.
11:32After conquering the toy market with products like Laser Tag and the Teddy Ruxpin Bear,
11:37Worlds of Wonder earned exclusive retail sales and distribution for the uber-popular NES system.
11:43It's a look that generates excitement and stimulates sales for the entire Nintendo product line.
11:49The money was flowing, until suddenly, it wasn't.
11:53The unprecedented surge in video game sales quickly dwarfed the profits of traditional toys.
11:58Then, Nintendo decided not to renew their distribution deal,
12:02leaving Worlds of Wonder without a leg, or in this case, a product, to stand on.
12:07The stock crash of 1987 was the final nail in the coffin,
12:11and the company shut its doors for good.
12:13Both the Teddy Ruxpin and Laser Tag sets have continued on in various forms,
12:18just not with Worlds of Wonder.
12:20Hi, my name is Teddy Ruxpin.
12:24Number 19.
12:25Vertu
12:26Evidently, the lifestyles of the rich and famous did not include Vertu.
12:36From their inception, the luxury phones were manufactured with an emphasis on style over function.
12:43And to be fair, they definitely succeeded in becoming a status symbol,
12:46but only because they were so ridiculously expensive.
12:50Only the richest of the rich could afford one.
12:53Working with Google, we can now offer contemporary performance products,
12:57which has attracted a younger audience to the brand.
12:59Since Vertu phones also lacked features like GPS and Bluetooth,
13:03many felt the hefty price tag wasn't worth it.
13:06Following years of messy finances, the company officially went under in 2017.
13:11Now that they're off the market, Vertu phones have ironically become the commodity
13:16the company always wanted them to be.
13:19Working with Android has allowed us to build contemporary, powerful products
13:23for people looking for that everyday smartphone,
13:26but just that little bit extra bit of refinement or exclusivity.
13:30Number 18.
13:31Alta Motors
13:32I think the doors are going to fly open for areas this bike can go, perform, compete,
13:37and that's going to open up, I think, a whole new avenue of rider.
13:41The saddest part of this closure is that it had nothing to do with the product itself.
13:45Despite an overwhelmingly positive response,
13:48Alta Motors' electric bikes just weren't selling enough to keep the lights on.
13:53Their biggest issue may have been the continuing controversy
13:55between electric and gas-powered engines.
13:58In fact, Alta Motors' bikes were banned from several official races for that very reason.
14:03I first started hearing about them a year and a half ago
14:06and just kind of seeing tidbits here and there of the bike
14:08and honestly thought it was the most legit-looking electric dirt bike that I'd seen up to the point.
14:14As a result, price cuts and new models were only band-aid fixes for their unsustainable cash flow.
14:20When two partnership deals fell through, the company was left severely strapped for funds
14:24and eventually ceased operations altogether in 2018 after just eight years of business.
14:30I think that there's definitely a future for them.
14:34Whether it, you know, overtakes all the gas-powered bikes, that's yet to be seen.
14:40Number 17. Mercury Automobile
14:43There's not a sharp corner in sight, and the drag coefficient of .32 makes this the slipperiest American sedan yet.
14:5170 years is a pretty good run for any car division,
14:54especially one that never found a consistent buyer base.
14:57See, initially, the Mercury division of Ford was created as a mid-priced alternative to their other models.
15:04However, over the years, it underwent more rebrands and redesigns than you can count on one hand.
15:09It's been a race car, a sports vehicle, an economy ride, and more.
15:13They tried targeting it to men, and then to young drivers, and then to women.
15:17This is a great find. They're a great find.
15:21Award-winning safety ratings.
15:23A brand-new hybrid.
15:25While these shifts occurred gradually across decades,
15:28the shovelings eventually began to limit the car's appeal instead of widen it.
15:32By 2010, the continuously declining sales forced Ford to put the Mercury brand in park permanently.
15:38Imagine that.
15:41Imagine yourself in a Mercury.
15:4616. Pebble
15:48The idea was brought to life by people like you just a few months ago,
15:52and we're proud to say that Pebble is now ready for primetime.
15:55These days, a smartwatch that connects to your phone isn't that crazy of an idea.
16:00But back in 2014, Pebble burst onto the scene as one of the first to put it into practice.
16:05The results were instantaneous. At the time, the smartwatch was the most funded project
16:11in Kickstarter history.
16:13Your incredible support helped Pebble smash Kickstarter records not once, but twice,
16:18and ushered in a revolution in wearable technology.
16:21Unfortunately, after that amazing start, Pebble dropped like a stone.
16:25Amid shaky marketing and an unclear vision, the company consistently failed to hit sales goals.
16:30That, when paired with growing competition from the Apple Watch,
16:33spelled doom for the luxury armware.
16:35The company shut down in 2016, and interestingly enough,
16:40was acquired by Fitbit, who did not take on any of Pebble's debt.
16:44It's focused. It's not a miniature smartphone on your wrist.
16:48It's designed from the ground up to be a truly smart watch.
16:5215. Solyndra
16:54Panels can be cost-effectively installed on typical big-box retail, warehouse, and other light industrial roofs
17:01not designed to support significant rooftop loads.
17:04On paper, Solyndra's high-class solar panels were cheaper, sturdier, and more efficient than anything else on the market.
17:11The pitch proved so enticing, they even garnered government support via a massive loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.
17:17However, Solyndra's lead didn't last long.
17:21There were going to be some companies that did not work out.
17:25Solyndra was one of them.
17:27But the process by which the decision was made was on the merits.
17:30Within a few years of its creation, the price of natural gas nosedived,
17:34removing any financial incentive to invest in renewable energy.
17:37As a result, Solyndra's abrupt bankruptcy was about as ugly as it could get,
17:43including a full-blown government investigation into their purported excessive spending and misrepresentation of finances.
17:50While they've never been officially charged with any wrongdoing,
17:53something tells us Solyndra won't be making more solar panels anytime soon.
17:57And everybody figured, okay, this company can't fail.
18:0114. McCall's
18:03If you read magazines in the 1900s, odds are you read McCall's.
18:08While its first issue technically dates back to 1873,
18:12it wasn't until the 20th century that it became mandatory reading.
18:15As the so-called first magazine for women,
18:18McCall's featured sewing patterns, short stories, home improvement tips, and more.
18:23You don't just have to take our word for it, though.
18:25These numbers speak for themselves.
18:28At its peak, McCall's had an unprecedented readership north of 8 million.
18:32With that kind of support, it's really no wonder it survived more than a century in print.
18:37Unfortunately, stiff competition over the years slowly whittled down its audience.
18:41In 2002, it shipped its final issue.
18:4513. Zune
18:47This is actually showing a photograph right here. I can flip through the photos here.
18:50Three-inch screen. Pretty bright. Pretty sharp.
18:53In 2006, Microsoft went up against Apple's behemoth, the iPod, and lost. Badly.
19:00In their defense, the Zune portable media players had plenty of potential.
19:03They had functionality with the popular Xbox 360, innovative social features,
19:08and even a partnership with United Airlines.
19:11But despite all of that corporate support, Zune failed to make a splash in the market.
19:16Experience the ease of quick play, which puts your favorite media at your fingertips.
19:20In the six years it stayed on shelves, it consistently sold less than its competitors,
19:25let alone the juggernaut that was the iPod.
19:28While several reviews praised its HD features, it wasn't enough to move the bottom line.
19:33And Microsoft discontinued production in 2012.
19:36Finding music on your player is pretty easy. There are several different ways to do it.
19:40If you want to search by letter, you can do that here. We're looking for most death.
19:4412. Theranos
19:46People don't even know that they have a basic human right to be able to get access to
19:54information about themselves and their own body.
19:58Around the turn of the century, Elizabeth Holmes founded a revolutionary breakthrough for the
20:03healthcare industry. Theranos, as it was called, created a technology that could perform rapid
20:07blood tests requiring very little of a sample at a fraction of the cost. Mesmerized by the innovation,
20:14Holmes' net worth skyrocketed to $4.5 billion. The only issue? It was all a lie.
20:20Our dream for Theranos is that every single day, someone's life is better because they can afford
20:25access to health information they couldn't afford before. Theranos' supposed science was flimsy at
20:31best and a complete fabrication at worst. The company and its incredible funding both went down
20:37in flames. But that was the least of Holmes' issues. She still faced multiple counts of fraud
20:42and was later sentenced to 11 years in prison. Given all that, don't expect Theranos to resurface
20:48ever again. 11. Vine
21:01In just six seconds, this video-looping app took the world by storm. Its short-form content was the
21:17very definition of addictive. And because of that, Vine's viral videos quickly became a staple of
21:23pop culture. However, it wasn't long before rivaling social media platforms got in on the trend. When the
21:28likes of Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat added their own video-sharing features, Vine lost its
21:34reason to be, and most of its user base too. Right, so they're kind of shifting what Vine currently is
21:41into a new Vine camera situation. By 2017, the app shut down altogether. At the very least,
21:49a comprehensive archive of its many videos still exists, ensuring we'll never forget that
21:54it is Wednesday, my dudes. It is Wednesday, my dudes.
22:0310. Tab
22:04When someone says they want a tab, it usually means they're going to order more at an establishment
22:12and want to keep a tally so they can pay later. Not for Coca-Cola. In 1963, they introduced their
22:30very first diet beverage known as Tab. Considered very popular in the 60s and 70s, they spawned various
22:36flavors of the drink, including root beer and ginger ale. Yet when Diet Coke hit the market in
22:451982, Tab started to take a hit. The company began producing less and less of it as interests shifted,
22:51and Coke eventually announced in 2020 they were discontinuing the brand. There are, however,
22:56pockets of places here and there that still carry the cult favorite as of this writing,
23:01but those are rare and the soft drink is pretty much retired.
23:04Petition to save Tab was signed by several thousand people, but to no avail. Coke is putting Tab on
23:12ice. 9. Bugle Boy
23:14Excuse me, are those Bugle Boy jeans that you're wearing?
23:18Yes, they are Bugle Boy jeans. Thank you.
23:22Fun Fact
23:23Bugle Boy founder William C.W. Mao actually started his entrepreneurial career in electrical engineering.
23:29When outed from his company due to an SEC inquiry, Mao shifted gears and started making clothing.
23:35But you gotta start somewhere. I mean, take your clothes, for example.
23:41If you just get out of that monkey suit, you might get a positive attitude going.
23:47I mean, the world could be your oyster.
23:50Best known for their jeans and earworm-inducing commercials, Bugle Boy was also responsible for
23:56one of the surprising trends of the 1980s. Parachute pants.
23:59Parachute pants?
24:01Yeah.
24:02Does everybody parachute?
24:04Between the denim trousers and the ballooning slacks, the company sold nearly a billion dollars
24:09worth of product. Despite its success, the company had difficulty staying up with the
24:13ever-changing trends of youth culture. They eventually went bankrupt in 2001.
24:18Excuse me, are those Bugle Boy jeans?
24:25Number 8. Compaq
24:26Founded in the early 80s, this thriving computer company sold IBM PC-compatible devices, with
24:33PC standing for Personal Computer, under their own name.
24:36So, if you're looking for a powerful, portable computer that doesn't smell, we suggest you
24:41buy the Compaq Portable 2. Of course, choice.
24:49Sorry, I was miles away. Of course, the choice is yours.
24:52A few notable devices included one of the first portable computers, and the Compaq Presario,
24:58which featured a long line of desktop and laptop computers.
25:01In fact, the Compaq Presario can even answer your computing questions.
25:04Oh, and if you happen to have a phone, it can answer that, too.
25:09By 1994, they had lapped IBM and Apple in the home computer market.
25:13The most powerful PC in the world, the most powerful portable in the world, and the most
25:19powerful mid-range PCs in the world, all have one thing in common. They come from the company
25:26whose annual sales reached a billion dollars, faster than any other in history.
25:31However, with the market shifting and some bad management decisions, Compaq's star began
25:36to fall. In 2002, they were acquired by Hewlett-Packard, and the last Compaq-branded devices were discontinued
25:43in 2013.
25:457. Pontiac
25:47In the 1920s, GM discovered a major price gap between their Chevrolet and Oakland-branded vehicles,
25:57prompting the birth of the 1926 Pontiac. By 1929, the Pontiacs were outselling the
26:03Oakland's enough that they discontinued the latter in 1931. Since then, Pontiac grew to become a major
26:09success for GM. Notable entries include the 69 Pontiac GTO, the Grand Am, the Fiero, and the
26:15Firebird Trans Am. However, the turn-of-the-century was… not good for GM, as they faced bankruptcy.
26:24In a bid to rescue GM, the US government will be investing $30 billion in the company, on
26:29top of the $20 billion already lent to it.
26:32Having already taken Oldsmobile out of the picture in 2004, Pontiac largely saw its end
26:37in 2009 when the company pulled the plug on the long-standing brand in an effort to keep
26:42themselves afloat.
26:43We just didn't have a strategy that we were satisfied with that could allow us to win with
26:48the Pontiac brand.
26:486. Kudos
26:50Candy bars come and go, but some have stood the test of time. Mars Kit Kat and Twix are
27:02just a few who've hung on over the years. Kudos, on the other hand, did not. It was
27:07a granola bar snack introduced by Mars in 1986 with a Simply Kudos offshoot that was meant
27:13to address the high-calorie count in the original. Oddly enough, in 2017, a post on the company's
27:24Facebook page confirmed the brand had been discontinued. No official reason has ever been
27:28given and the fans of the granola snack were left scratching their heads. All may not be
27:33lost as Mars apparently re-registered the brand trademark in 2020. Maybe we'll see it again
27:38someday.
27:395. Orbitz
27:41We have no idea what this company was thinking when they released their beverage back in 1997,
27:47but to no one's surprise, it didn't last. Made as a clear, non-carbonated fruit drink,
27:52Orbitz became infamous for the reaction it spawned from onlookers. If it had been released today,
27:57we're sure the likes of YouTube and TikTok would be filled with reaction videos of people
28:02trying to figure out exactly what the orbs floating in the drink were. Not only did it look
28:07like a lava lamp to go, the drink itself tasted poorly, and the orbs were apparently even worse.
28:16This is a drink we, thankfully, kicked into orbit.
28:194. Netscape Navigator
28:22She was 18 years old.
28:23She doesn't even know what Netscape is.
28:25Unless you used the internet in the 90s or recognized the icon from a quick scene in Captain
28:31Marvel, you've probably never heard of this browser. At a time when the World Wide Web was just starting
28:37out, web browsers were few and far between. Netscape reigned king for a while until Microsoft
28:43came onto the scene and the browser wars began.
28:46You can get unlimited internet access for only $9.95 a month.
28:49Well, what about all those other low-cost guys? Don't you want an ISP that's fast,
28:54safer, reliable, and more secure? Netscape won the first few rounds, but by the time
29:00Internet Explorer 3.0 and 4.0 came out, Netscape was already lagging behind. And it didn't help that
29:06Microsoft included Explorer with every version of Windows. Everything has to change faster,
29:10obviously. You know, look at Netscape. It was born and died. I don't want to use the word died,
29:15they wouldn't like that word, but it basically was born and overtaken within four years. That's pretty fast.
29:21Netscape came to an end in 2007, but left JavaScript as a legacy since it's used by virtually every
29:28webpage out there. 3. Enron
29:31There's one thing that I hope we can achieve. It is to create an environment where our employees
29:37can come in here and realize their potential. It's a wild ride.
29:41Enron is a name that went down in history as one of the biggest financial scandals to rock the United
29:47States. Known mainly as an energy company, Enron grew by leaps and bounds as it began to diversify
29:53its portfolio beyond just the basics of energy. Sure, that all sounds great as many companies broaden
29:59out. That's our vision. We're trying to change the world. The problem for Enron was that as large as
30:04they were, much of their financial success was due to creative accounting. In basic terms,
30:11they said they were doing fine, all the while hiding massive debts and liabilities from everyone.
30:16I understand how upper management would allow. It's because Enron actually used the same estimates
30:21in their earning reports, which magically transformed themselves into revenue, which translates directly
30:28into higher stock prices for investors. And higher bonuses and stock option payouts for execs.
30:32Everybody wins. They filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and a full investigation into their practices was
30:39launched. Like most things that end terribly, it didn't start out that way. It started with
30:44a lot of people who thought they were changing the world. And over time, they became victims of their
30:49own hubris, victims of their own greed. And so it's like taking so much promise and possibility and
30:54looking at it in a mirror and seeing the flip side reflected back at you. Number two, Kodak.
30:59Life is filled with moments just waiting to be taken.
31:03Trademarked in 1888, Kodak is a name synonymous with photography. For years,
31:09the term Kodak moment referred to a perfect instant to capture in a photo.
31:13Aren't all your moments worth Kodak film?
31:15Kodak cameras hit the market shortly after the company was formed and became the de facto standard
31:21for all things photography for decades. In 1975, they produced the world's first digital camera,
31:27but scrapped it for fear of losing their film camera business.
31:30It's sort of the classic innovator's dilemma problem. If you have this great cash cow,
31:37which is your film camera business, and you're one of the dominant players there,
31:41you're reluctant to totally disrupt it yourself.
31:45Company executives held the line on film photography, but did eventually give in and
31:49joined the digital revolution, which helped the company for a short time.
31:53A combination of both market growth, the explosion of the smartphone, and other competitors eventually
31:58pushed Kodak out of photography, and it now only operates as a print company after filing for
32:03bankruptcy in the early 2010s.
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32:301. Pan Am
32:40Air travel in the mid-20th century was a whole other world. Pan American World Airways, or Pan Am,
32:47practically held a monopoly on international travel at the time. They were also responsible for shifting
32:52the types of aircraft being flown to much larger planes such as the Boeing 747. They had an advanced
32:58collection, top-notch service, and were not owned by any government entity.
33:03It was second to none. I didn't think you'd even see it in some of the finest restaurants.
33:07That state-of-the-art fleet of planes ultimately hurt them, however, when the 1973 oil crisis struck.
33:13No one was flying, and the company was taking a hit. Their accumulating debt and failure to adapt to
33:18an ever-changing industry saw them sell off their assets to various other airlines as they went under in 1991.
33:24It broke people's hearts, really. Not just people that work for the airline, but for many other
33:30people that flew it and knew it. And it was the flagship airline of America.
33:36Which of these major brands would you like to see make a comeback? Let us know in the comments below.
33:42Polaroid's SX-70 Solar. The finest instant camera ever made.
33:48Polaroid!
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