Worst Business Decisions Ever Made
- excite not excited enough to buy Google for $750,000
It has been reported that Google founders Larry Page, and Sergey Brin was talked into selling their company to Excite for $1 million. Excite CEO George Bell didn't think too highly of their company and turned down the offer to purchase it for $750,000. Google is currently valued at $170 billion today.
- Western Union dons't need phone!
In 1877, Alexander Graham Bell offered the patent for the telephone to Western Union for $100,000. Western Union president William Orten refused to buy the new invention since he already had a monopoly on the telegram. He said in a letter to Bell that the phone didn't seem to have any commercial possibilities and added that the "electrical toy" was of no use to the company.
- Ross Perrot passes on Microsoft
Back in 1979 when Bill Gates was just a 23-year-old yet to achieve billionaire status, Ross Perot refused to match his asking price of $40 million for Microsoft. Perot thought it was too steep, especially for a company yet to reach its peak. According to Forbes magazine, Microsoft currently has a market capital of $343 billion.
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