Top 10 Dumbest Statements by Corporate Executives
#10: The Music Industry as a Sick Dog
Top 20 Most Shocking Corporate Corruption Scandals Ever
Doug Morris It’s no secret that the music industry was utterly rocked (no pun intended) by file-sharing sites like Napster, which allowed anyone instant and free access to every major album and song. The music industry floundered - including Universal Music Group’s CEO Doug Morris. During a profile with journalist Seth Mnookin, Morris claimed, “They just didn't know what to do. It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?” If “hiring someone with digital business acumen” sounds like a good idea, then Morris is quick to rebut with, “I wouldn't be able to recognize a good technology person.” Phrases like “good technology person” tells you all you need to know about the music industry shakeup in the 2000s.
#9: “An Electric Toy”
Top 5 Best Electric Fireplaces
William Orton From 1867 to 1878, William Orton served as President of the Western Union Telegraph Company. It was also around this time that Alexander Graham Bell was patenting the first telephone and starting AT&T. In 1876, Orton and Western Union actually had the option to buy Bell’s patent for $100,000 - a considerable sum in the 19th century. He declined and defended his decision with a question - “What use could this company make of an electric toy?” Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, but Orton’s disastrous decision may be one of the biggest business blunders in American history. Telephones quickly spread throughout the world, and Bell became a household name. Did you know who William Orton was before we told you?
#8: “High-Value Programming”
Top 10 Best Musicals About High School
Jeff Bewkes Much like Napster, Netflix completely changed the TV and movie industry by introducing streaming as a widespread form of media consumption. Back in 2010, Netflix was in its infancy, and it had just made a deal to stream movies from distribution companies like MGM and Paramount. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes was quick to criticize their business model, saying, “At $8 to $10, it doesn’t have the economics to support high-value programming.” He also compared Netflix to the Albanian army, asking, “Is the Albanian army going to take over the world? I don’t think so.” He was decisively proven wrong. Netflix did take over the world, and their economics has supported $200 million blockbusters and Oscar-winning films.
#7: No Ugly People, Please
Top 10 Dumbest Reasons People Have Rioted
Mike Jeffries Until 2014, Mike Jeffries served as the CEO of popular clothes retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. In a 2006 interview with Salon, he explained their marketing philosophy as being “exclusionary”. Specifically, he said: “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive, all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong, and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” He went on to criticize companies that embraced people of different sizes and ages. When the comment faced backlash, Jeffries apologized and claimed that A&F doesn’t discriminate based on “individual characteristics.”
#6: Cars Are a Novelty
Top 10 Best First Cars
Michigan Savings When it comes to tech, it’s tough to predict the future. As such, more than a few people have spectacularly misjudged the potential of new technologies. In the early 20th century, Henry Ford wished to incorporate his automaker company, so he hired a lawyer named Horace Rackham. Rackham personally bought $5,000 in Ford stock - against the advice of Michigan Savings Bank. Their President told Rackham: “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty - a fad.” In 1919, Rackham sold his stocks for $12.5 million and spent the rest of his life giving money to charity.
#5: Less Than $2 a Day
Another Top 10 Dumbest Criminals
Gina Rinehart Worth an estimated $15.6 billion dollars US, Australian mining magnate and heiress Gina Rinehart generated immediate controversy with a video posted to the Sydney Mining Club’s YouTube channel. In the 2012 clip, she lauded Africa on the grounds that “Africans want to work and its workers are willing to work for less than $2 a day.” The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was quick to counter, saying: "It's not the Australian way to toss people $2, to toss them a gold coin, and then ask them to work for a day". She added: “we support proper Australian wages and decent working conditions.”
#4: Kicking Cigarettes
James Morgan It’s a well-established fact that nicotine is addictive, and that quitting smoking is difficult. However, according to tobacco executive James Morgan, quitting smoking is similar to quitting candy. In 1997, tobacco companies faced a $5 billion class action lawsuit filed by flight attendants who had been diagnosed with cancer due to secondhand smoke. During a deposition, Morgan was asked if cigarettes are addictive. He claimed that they weren’t, saying, “If they are behaviorally addictive or habit forming, they are much more like caffeine, or in my case, gummy bears.” The bizarre correlation was widely touted in the media. A company spokeswoman rushed to do damage control, saying: “If people think he was relating gummy bears to smoking, they would be misinformed or misdirected.”
#3: The iPhone
iPhone vs Android
Steve Ballmer The first iPhone was released in June of 2007, instantly transforming the way that mobile phones were made and used. However, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer wasn’t having it. In an interview with USA Today shortly before the iPhone was released, Ballmer said, “There’s no chance the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” He continued with, “I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.” It is currently estimated Apple has about a 40% share of the US smartphone market, and 11% globally. It’s yet another hilarious case of hindsight being 20/20.
#2: Right to Water
Top 5 Best Water Filters
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe This CEO of Nestlé found himself in some very hot water after the release of a documentary called “We Feed the World.” In the documentary, Brabeck-Letmathe infamously claimed, “The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution.” Human rights advocates were quick to challenge the claim. Brabeck-Letmathe later changed his statement, saying that water for survival and hygiene is a right, but not for things like swimming pools or car washes - those require a price. The damage however had already been done.
#1: Total Crap
Top 10 Weirdest Things to Happen during a Total Solar Eclipse
Gerald Ratner The infamous Ratner blunder may forever remain the most famous and damaging. Ratner once served as the CEO of a major jewelry chain known as Ratners Group. The business was prosperous and popular throughout the ‘80s and early ‘90s - until Ratner publicly condemned his own products. During a conference speech, Ratner joked that his products were “total crap” and that a prawn sandwich would last longer than the company’s earrings. While the jokes were met with laughter, the public was none too happy. The remarks cost the company £500 million, nearly resulted in bankruptcy, and cost Ratner his job as CEO. The company’s name was changed to Signet Group to distance themselves from the controversy, and Ratner’s name became synonymous with a major business gaffe.