Mr Fox

Nokia's phones got FOXED up. Peak: 40% of world mobiles (BBC). After the iPhone its R&D staff weren't sure what to target; catch-up ended in a sale to Microsoft, which cut up to 7,800 jobs, mostly phones (BBC, Microsoft). Handset dominance guaranteed nothing in smartphones.

Wirecard got FOXED up. The DAX 30 fintech collapsed within days in June 2020: 1.9 billion euros of cash in Asian banks never existed (Guardian). For years auditor EY signed the books without confirming the money with the banks (FT). An audit is only as real as what it checks.

Toys R Us got FOXED up. A 2005 leveraged buyout left it with $400 million yearly in interest (Reuters), cash its stores and site needed as Amazon took shoppers (NYT). Its 2018 US liquidation: 735 stores, some 30,000 jobs (AP). Debt doesn't sit on the books. It shops against you.

Boeing got FOXED up. Two 737 MAX crashes killed 346 and grounded it 20 months. House investigators blamed faulty technical assumptions, management's lack of transparency and grossly insufficient FAA oversight; costs hit $20 billion (CNN). Wrong assumptions, weak checks.

One drop of blood got FOXED up. Theranos promised hundreds of tests from one prick; the SEC alleged its machine ran ~12 of the 200-plus. It voided its 2014-15 Edison results and corrected tens of thousands of patient reports (WSJ). A valuation runs on promises. Patients can't.

A failed heart drug got FOXED up. Pfizer tested sildenafil for angina. It flopped, but Welsh volunteers loved one side effect and hated giving the pills back (France 24, Guardian). Viagra launched in 1998 and hit $1 billion a year by 2000. The side effect became the product.

Blockbuster got FOXED up. In 2000 Netflix offered to sell itself for $50 million; Blockbuster all but laughed, Randolph recalls (Vanity Fair). Renting moved online; the chain peaked at 9,100 stores and went bust in 2010 (NBC, Reuters). Its scale pinned it to a habit that left.

FedEx got FOXED up. In 1973, as founder Fred Smith tells it, FedEx had $5,000, not enough for fuel. Smith flew to Vegas and made $27,000 at blackjack (Business Insider), buying a week of flying until he raised $11 million. Not a strategy. A story that survives because he did.

The Bubble Act got FOXED up. The South Sea Company itself pushed it through in June 1720 to starve rival companies of capital before its own bubble burst (Harris). One prosecution in the 18th century, repealed 1825. The anti-bubble law was the bubble's bodyguard.

The match king got FOXED up. In 1932 Sweden's Ivar Kreuger shot himself as his empire collapsed, forged bonds in his safe. The BBC counts the fallout among the scandals that pushed the US into new securities laws and the SEC. Part of the case was written by a forger.

Diamond rings got FOXED up. Engagement diamonds were niche until De Beers hired N.W. Ayer in 1938 to sell an idea: diamonds equal love. Japanese brides with diamond rings went from under 5% in 1967 to 60% by 1981 (The Atlantic). Advertising didn't find the demand. It built it.

Barings Bank got FOXED up. In 1995 a 28-year-old Singapore trader hid losing bets in a secret account until they hit 860 million pounds, nearly twice the bank's capital (BBC, NYT). Founded in 1762, Barings sold to ING for 1 pound. One hidden account ended 233 years of banking.

Enron got FOXED up. In 2001 Enron restated $1 billion in earnings; six weeks later it was bankrupt (SEC Historical Society). Congress answered with Sarbanes-Oxley: CEOs must personally certify the books, lying is a crime. Enron's auditor didn't survive the year. The law did.

US banking got FOXED up. In 1907 the US had no central bank, so when panic hit, J.P. Morgan locked bankers in his library until they pledged cash. Lawmakers concluded a central authority was needed (HISTORY); the Fed was born in 1913. A man's library is not a rescue policy.

Maple harvests swing with weather, so Quebec's producers pool a reserve of syrup: surplus in fat years, drawn down in lean ones. That smooths supply and prices, but it stacks valuable stock in a few warehouses. In 2012 thieves took about 6 million pounds, up to $30M, from one.

1975: Kodak engineer Steve Sasson builds the first digital camera. Management: "that's cute but don't tell anyone about it." Kodak later went digital: No.1 in US digital cameras in 2005, yet lost $1.4B that year. Bankrupt 2012. Inventing it didn't make the switch from film easy.

Ford's plant had 370% turnover in 1913. In 1914 it offered $5 a day, roughly double, to workers who qualified for profit sharing. A year later quits had fallen 87% (Abell, via NBER), job queues formed, productivity and profits rose. Higher pay came with workers staying.

May 6, 2010, 2:32pm: a fund starts selling 75,000 E-mini futures (about $4.1B) into a market already down and thin. Stocks fall another 5-6% in minutes; some absurd trades are canceled. Lesson: liquidity is what absorbs big orders, and it can vanish exactly when you need it.

May 6, 2010, 2:32pm: a fund starts selling 75,000 E-mini futures (about $4.1B) into a market already down and thin. Stocks fall another 5-6% in minutes; some absurd trades are canceled. Lesson: liquidity is what absorbs big orders, and it can vanish exactly when you need it.

Sept 3, 1967: Sweden switched from driving on the left to the right. The next Monday had 125 reported crashes, below the 130-198 of earlier Mondays. But insurance claims were back to normal within six weeks. Lesson: a dip after a big change can fade; it isn't lasting safety.