A lack of foresight, a typing fault, a design and communication error, or a little negligence, can cause you to lose a fortune, not to mention the human losses, and the ecological impacts. Here are the 13 most expensive mistakes in history.
13. A Costly Moustache
Game of Thrones fans couldn’t help but notice a Starbucks cup mistakenly left in a pivotal scene on the HBO series. But other television and movie mishaps actually cost studios a ton of money.
When Warner Bros. gathered the cast of Justice League for some badly-needed reshoots, Henry Cavill, who played the role as Superman, was in the midst of shooting another film that required him to have some pretty heavy facial hair.
He had to film the reshoots with a moustache. According to Looper, Warner Bros. spent millions of dollars digitally removing the pesky hairs from the film to make Superman appear without a moustache.
12. The Chernobyl Disaster
On April 26, 1986, reactor number four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. It was caused by engineers who were trying to carry out an experiment in the plant, despite the ban imposed by the organization in charge of nuclear security. During the experiment, a calculation error caused a large explosion, followed by fire.
Radioactive material spread through the atmosphere, seriously affecting the health of millions of people. The work published by the New York Academy of Sciences in December 2009 estimated that around 985,000 deaths are attributable to the explosion of this plant.
11. Lost in Space
Most people lose their sunglasses or a set of keys, which is frustrating and a bit costly. But in 1999, NASA lost a $125M Mars orbiter because of what CNN referred to as a “metric mishap.”
What happened? The mistake occurred because Lockheed Martin engineers used English measurements – inches and feet – in their calculations, in contrast to NASA’s metric calculations – centimeters and meters. Because of this, navigation information couldn’t properly transfer, and the orbiter was lost.
10. Alaska is Sold
In 1867, Russia sold the territory of Alaska to the United States for 7.2 million dollars. Confronted with important financial problems and the fear of losing colonies without any compensation, Tsar Alexander II decided to get rid of his North American territories, which at the time, did not bring him much.
No one then imagined the profits the USA would one day derive from this acquisition. Alaska is indeed rich in natural resources, like gold and oil. Oil and gas reserves are worth 200 billion dollars according to economists.
9. Sizzling Skyscraper
A London skyscraper nicknamed the “Walkie-Talkie,” designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, was originally notable for its unique shape, boasting curved, and eye-catching walls.
Unfortunately, it became known for something much different, when its south-facing wall, which is covered in reflective glass, began redirecting sunrays in such a way that was actually melting cars and causing fires. Fixes for the problem included temporary netting and a permanent sunshade that cost millions of dollars.
8. Apple Share Sold
We’ve learned a lot about Apple founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, over the years as the tech company changed the way we live and do business. But there was a third founder of the giant tech who, at one time, owned 10 per cent of the company. His name is Ronald Wayne.
Wayne was an Apple founder for just 12 days before deciding to sell his share to Jobs and Wozniak for a mere $800. Considering the current company’s valuation of $2 trillion, Ronald Wayne’s shares could be worth 200 billion dollars today.
7. Exxon-Valdez Disaster
In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon-Valdez caused the worst oil spill ever in terms of damage to the environment. It then carried 180,000 tonnes of oil gross. The accident damaged 11 of the 13 tanks on board and spilled 40,000 tonnes of crude oil on the coast.
This resulted in 800 km of coast being polluted by 7,000 km² of groundwater oil and 300,000 birds killed. The oil group ExxonMobil spent more than $ 3.4 billion to clean the coast and the seabed, compensate more than 30,000 fishermen, and end the legal proceedings.
The investigation revealed that the tanker captain was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.
6. Fight or Flight
Air travel is expensive for customers looking to book a getaway, but it was in 2006 when the airline Alitalia found itself stuck with the bill when a typo on their website allowed for $39 flights from Toronto to Cyprus (it was supposed to read $3,900).
This is definitely one of the most expensive typos in the world. Two-thousand tickets were sold before Alitalia could correct the price online. Instead of fighting customers on their mistake, they chose to honor the cheap tickets to the tune of $7 million.
5. Big Dig
When an oil rig, operated by Texaco, drilled too far into the ground in Louisiana, it resulted in the collapse of salt pillars holding up Lake Peigneur. A sinkhole formed and the lake went from just 1.82 metres deep to a monstrous 60.96 metres. Texaco paid $44.8 million for the incredibly costly and troubling mistake.
4. Forest Fires
In 2003, a 34-year-old Californian hunter got lost in the forest in San Diego County and lit a campfire for help. He quickly lost control of the fire and started one of the most devastating fires in Californian history.
The “Cedar Fire” caused the loss of $1.2 billion, wiped out over 110,500 hectares, destroyed 2,820 buildings, and caused the deaths of 15 people, including a firefighter. The man was indicted in federal court and sentenced to 960 hours of community service as well as a fine of $ 9,000 in institutions.
3. Titanic
It’s hard not to think of the sinking of the Titanic when considering the most expensive mistakes in history. In 1912, the monetary loss of the ship, which was on its maiden voyage when it sank, was $7.5 million.
According to Business Insider, that would be the equivalent of $168 million today. This doesn’t even account for the lives lost during the heartbreaking event. Poor navigation of icebergs is undoubtedly the most well-known and momentous of mistakes that caused the sinking of the Titanic.
2. Train Trouble
You can’t fit a square peg into a round hole and you really can’t fit wide trains onto narrow railways. This was the lesson learned by SNCF, a French train company, after purchasing 2000 trains for $20 billion.
Unfortunately, they were too wide to fit into the majority of train stations for which they were intended to travel. The company had to shell out another $68 million to widen the train platforms in an effort to make the trains fit.
1. Bitcoin Trashed
While many of us are still trying to make heads or tails of Bitcoin, investing in the digital currency during its humble beginnings would prove to be a big payoff now.
Sadly for James Howells, an IT worker in Wales, he lost his stash of 7500 bitcoins when he trashed his hard drive. The collection would have been worth $127 million today, according to CNBC. And these are the 13 most expensive mistakes in history.
