It’s easy (and kind of fun) to laugh at the misfortune of CEOs and other high up business types when they bring it on themselves – so let’s do that now. Herein lies some of the worst business decisions ever made, hindsight being 20/20, of course.
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if you make diabetes treatment, decisions for illicit compatible devices, visit dexcom dot com, such compatibility welcome to stuff, you should know protection, and I heart radio, the hey and welcome to the podcast, I'm Josh and there's chuck- and this is stuff you should know one of our really. It's been awhile top ten additions where we don't actually do top ten yeah some people out. There are like what in the world these are going to bounce yeah and so
people are like. Oh my gosh. This reminds me of the old days back in the
two thousand. Oh, I dunno tens yeah, it's nine thirteenth,
oh yeah. Thirteen is lousy were top tens. I think
I used to do all that a lot of these top that well not a lot, but we used to do top tens from the old howstuffworks website and it seems
like they never had ten great entries right, so he would just
on the fly say: oh let's not do this one, but we eat. We were better now we're professionals yeah, so we got together beforehand and said. Well, let's just do these eight and yeah.
feels weird to know ahead of time what we're not going to do rather than just saying it in the middle of recording, but I do feel that it is more professional skull growth. My
and so we are
doing all ten, but there is one that I think really can
introducing this concept out of the gate
and it was concept
Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about the concept
we're talking today about bad business decisions,
we call this the shot and fraga our because if you are kind of
if you take a grim view of sea odin captains
the street. You know that this is like
She had to really kind of poke fun at people have been really terrible decisions over the years. Not all great decisions over the years sometimes are bad and we're here to talk about eight of them
either the games you never one are the ones you didn't start playing in that saying he's at it. I don't
no, that's it, but that that totally makes sense to me. So I'm saying yes I'll, take it
so we only miss the shots. You don't take yeah, that's what
better than mine, but I like yours-
day, undermined our professional spiel at the beginning to snap so there's
I a pretty well worn story about how alexander Graham bell invented the telephone and went to western union? Said: hey you? U, captains
communication you guys,
rule the world. As far as long distance communication goes, I've got this new invention. Why did you buy?
from me for a hundred thousand dollars and the heads of western union said that is ridiculous: nobody's
no want this thing, hit the bricks and
is andrew, Graham bell just went off and created his own phone company and hit those patents.
He received turned out to be what are widely?
considered the most valuable patents ever issued in the united states.
Pretty valuable patents have been issued like this stuff into sneeze. We're not talking about so
also ran patent. This is the path
the pen stripe you beat up the swami party, oh by far
like by twice invaluable, even maybe, but probably more so, but that the
This kind of goes to show you like that
easy to say haha at western union, but
they also is a teachable moment is Oprah would say because
you dig into the story. You find that when Alexander graham bell invent the telephone hidden,
the telephone, so you and I could
but a receiver and talk to one another on either and he basically invented it to be the radio before radio the intent was free.
You just sit in a room, and
but on the other end of the telephone line in a different city, perform a play
or read a monologue or place
anthony and you are going to sit there and listen. You weren't supposed to talk back,
that was the idea. So if you put it in that context, western union doesn't see so so dom anyway. So
gets a reminder to keep in mind in most
these cases hindsight
twenty twenty and that there is
a lot of exacerbating circumstances and that nothing's ever where that one sided, but it's still
a fund to think about a year in europe.
A great example of that hindsight being twenty twenty is I'm gonna go with this one is when excite did not by Google,
he's called called inaudible. Everybody remembers excite or you may not, but if you
it sounds familiar in you, look up the excite logo. Do you immediately? Probably if you were of a certain age, go
oh yeah equipment to excite didn't really say:
now to me when I was researching this until I went and saw it then I was like oh yeah. I remember those guys. I did not ever use it, but e x c. I t
you dont come believe it or not is still around
and in one of what will be two bits of serendipity.
With his episode, releasing now yeah excite,
is literally ending their email program this month. I know that's what that's what
prompted this episode is it
no
I had no idea well, because what money is
made funded Emily up until about a year ago, because she still paid for mine spring email. No, yes, she's, like I've,
had this email for twenty years, like everybody's got it, and I can't like she's she's locked
she felt like, but cheap,
he waited it out eventually, because I think they may a sub supporting in as well, not sure our fish stocks.
Taken or money right? Maybe I don't know anyway excite. If you go to excite dotcom today, you
laugh because
we'll see what is
a very old school looking internet site
It is it's like a list of its new squirrel. Like a list of headlines, it's got diesel
icons that I assume
they pay to be on their cause. It's like amazon, e bay, state farm
casper mattress, like private
icons as if
This website is the place to go to get to that southern places, the minimum.
Left rail. You will see a list of things like e mail which of course, is going to fund a bunch of redirect like whether it goes to ask you whether sports goes to e s began and then
entertainment, travel finance.
In games all goes to ask dot com, wow, apparently excite was yesterday. I thought they excite. Turning to ask that combo, apparently there, member it ok,
they they clearly like each other, because they link for different things to ask.
Come and do you know, of course, ass. Ask dot com started out as asked Jeeves member that I thought it was just
I remember for sure so these are search engines. Some of them were
Oh apparently categorized the entire internet by category strangely enough, but
excite supposedly was a search engine. It just wasn't super good and
is a story out there chuck that
search engine was purposefully, not super good, because this
surgeons used because be web portals. That was you go
to excite. First,
sure, you're searching for and then hopefully, while you're there taken a bunch of ad. So the longer you stayed on excite before leaving and going
often to the internet. The better it was
four excites bottom line. So there's
it wasn't that great and that is
explanation from one of the people.
Who, who
as part of this deal for war,
they excite passed on google,
they were just a search engine. They were a there like what they are.
today's till they were an aggregator. They had new, scrolls and stuff. Like that, it was almost like a
a front page of a newspaper that you would go to right, but
a really like super low five newspaper yeah, so
google comes around. This is ninety. Ninety nine larry page and Sarah gibbering said are eight. We got this thing. It's basically like
The am an algorithm essentially at this point
we would like we could sell it to u excite fer a million bucks and then they bought
and they said are about seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars and they said no we're we're excite. While we need you
this weird search engine.
that isn't even really a search engine yet- and I think this is one clear example of hindsight being twenty twenty has. No one could have predicted
what google would become absolutely not, and so the ceo of excite george bell is known as the guy who passed up on buying google for less than a million dollars right by here.
like hey, hey, hey, I'm, not some dummy like these guys wanted to god.
Excite search engine and put in
google search algorithm. Instead, it I was dedicated to my engineering team. They had worked really hard to create the search engine that I thought was perfectly fine and I wasn't about to completely poison our culture for google and ghouls.
Well said: no, actually, what happened was wait, a bake off between their search engine in our search in it and their stuff came back with terrible stuff. Our stuff came back with really good stuff
and they were like this is too good? People are gonna immediately leave excite, so we don't want your your algorithm
So the two competing stories for wireless didn't happen. Amazing, it is amazing.
a business secession still, though, sure absolutely all right. Where should we go now
we might not even get to aid everybody. That's how exciting these episodes are. I'm gonna go with kodak.
was gonna, go with codec to everyone that grew up in the man
A digital revolution remembers kodak as the the photograph company, the film paper company, the film stock company.
founded in eighteen, eighty out of new york? They can
Ninety per cent of the film market,
into the late seventies and about eighty five percent of the camera market, and
employed about. Sixty thousand people
in the mid seventies.
There was a engineer their named steve,
fasten who, basically
Without digital photography, he was experimenting with something called a charge. Couple devices ccd and
He figured out how to translate an image into ones and zeros and beer
so the very first digital camera was a one hundred thousand pixel image, which is pretty
at this point: zero one mega, pixels, thorough grainy and when
the houses and said: hey like this is the future
guys. This is what we should do in code.
Oh well, I'm not so sure about that. So yes,
they there were some people incorrect there are like this is dangerous man, we're whoop
like our money, is in print fit photo
ass. Our money is in regular cameras and there is enough,
their grouping in kodak. Those like this guy's right. Success is right. This is the future and they did invest bill
billions of dollars in developing a did
camera pull outfit.
Does conservative forces managed to keep it back? Keep it back in the
finally, by the time codec joined the
your camera revolution they had been passed by
So not only did they missed the digital camera revolution despite having invented it, they also wasted billions of dollars on
digital camera division that never got to really get a good start. So
it's complete waste like this is
This is a genuinely bad business decision. Chuck you haven't. They had the disk
member those. Yes, that
the big kodak products that was
digital, but it was
a little film we'll who is a disk
and it was a little flat camera
I I remember that was all the rage wanted him as a very big deal. I see that now yeah that just kind of take me back yeah did you have one now?
fischer price made one. Did you have that one now
I didn't have either either here you knew and I had similar bringing sweden get the best choice. Now, apparently,
those in the early nineties when digital cameras came out there like a thousand dollars, but they could
restore like eight pictures at a time that you can take a
pictures and yet plug it into your computer and up those eight pictures, format the the disk and then start over again
god bless you earlier doctors, but usually pay.
Is it took to wait a little bit and undetected figured out for sure, like the first flat screen tv member, how expense
oh my god, but it's the early adopters who drive the prices down because you're they're buying these things. You know what I mean hey I mean they. They walk than did the righteous path
so to wrap it. All up. Kodak ended up laying off fifty thousand employees and into this.
Twelve they they filed for chapter eleven back
grab seen there still around, but they basically make printer cartridges and motion picture film stock, which is also not use reopening were nope poor, kodak, the poor kodak!
time for break. I was going to say the same thing than we are really symptomatic of. This episode will be right back out
two.
happy birthday, granddad felix. We heard about your boss, a mug. We would say
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ok
I'm going to pick one and I really big wheel. Ok,
landed on western union against we're going have to go over them again occurring again so well,
Don't you, and now we want
that let me just move at one space to
jc penny one about their. Oh, I like this one
Is it really kind of get to the bottom of some? Some tricks that clothing retail?
Its use is actually all retailers do, but some close,
Retailers are particularly guilty of it that right,
we are talking about the clear j c penny
which, in two thousand twelve hardy a shiny
You see name ron Johnson, who had made quite the name for himself in business.
in retail as two things. First, the guy who, who heaped up target
I remember growing up target was like whatever target was not you know it's kinda like at kmart thing.
and then all of a sudden target was like this cool hip awesome place
because of RON johnson efforts, largely gotcha, then he went to work at apple
he is the guy he user, vp of retail he's a guy you. Basically
oversaw
you'd say, invented the apple store and the genius bar and stuff like that. Right, so I mean that
He was the gin jason pennies like come, save us like. Where were we
The flagging, like even compared to some of these other retailers will do the same thing like,
t J, Sir Walmart or whatever we're getting dough, love whatsoever to run
johnson, came in and looked around and he's like
This industry is shameful, like basically
but he'd walked into was aid in industry of clothing.
Retailers that would
sell items there were
a ten dollar item
for ten dollars, but on the price tag it would
I would say that it originally sorted out as like fifty dollars or something great
and yes at one point, they charge
fifty dollars for it, but it was so
that they could later market down in a sale that probably took place the day after that thing arrived in was sold for fifty dollars. So that means there were some suckers out there who actually paid fifty dollars for that ten
our shirt, but the way that
got to was by narrowly marking it down, but have
your reason to market down there
have sale after sale after seal hunt,
the sails.
sales in a year and it still wasn't
king and RON Johnson was like this is desperate.
you shouldn't do this anymore. Dear
There were two pounds even in people. You know, americans eat that stuff. Ought, if you, if you'd here, half off
blow out sail this weekend, you're
starts water and a little bit anything wait a minute.
I can get something that should cause twice as much for half as much
organ, bringing this coupon and get two things for one thing: it's unbelievable and we still fall for these tricks. We all do so.
He said no, here's. What will do we're gonna, just basically out ourselves
and say you know now we're gonna do is what is called fair and square every day. Is our new pricing system? It mean
you don't need a sale. You don't need a coupon, our stuff,
She's gonna be inexpensive, all the time and p
I hated it right away. People started complaining, they love their sales. They look.
Their deals. He
call him on the phone. Personally, he wouldn't do that and say you.
Tommy, don't you understand, you're paying the same price is just
while the time now
people didn't understand that they didn't want to hear that I saw one person that said
He seemed almost have a disdain air. His customer base yeah because he behind closed doors were saying there.
They're dumb and they need to be educated and like how
He's done, does not understand that
reclose every day is a better situation yeah, because
studies have found that people will pay more for cheaper thing if they think it's more valuable than
they would pay for the same thing. If it were marked, they would pass up something that was actually the same thing at a lower price.
And the reason. Why is because a ten dollar shirt seems cheap, it maybe
cheaply made and probably
not a good shirt, but fifty dollars
but then you can buy, for ten dollars was valued older. You begin with a thing: yes, not only is it a deal. You could make the case that it's a steel and people
love that, like you said a minute, there's a.
a thread, a vein of america. There is
crazy for that kind of stuff and RON Johnson found out the hard way that when you go up again
vain of americans. You lose every time and he lost pretty big and seventeen months. Do I get to words for you, my friend outlet, mole yeah,
That really says it all about america yet, but they don't even know how they operate, but there is,
it'd, be something like this without let malls right very much, but also there's a lot of them that are like crypto outlet, malls they're, not outlets stores, they're, just regular stores in an outlet mall. It's already asked. If europe
develop Harun Al Em, all your letting stores in there that are actually not selling their outlet stuff
but it gives us a regular store, you're at fault. It's I'm year, your hands. Blood is on your hands, so
what does got ron Johnson was what is known as the worst quarter in retail history.
Which was a store to store thirty two
percent drop, while quarter over quarter that assists
the death knell for him. He only made it a belief. Seventeen months,
and that was it and they came back and said: hey we're gonna go back to our fake price.
scheme and people loved it. I'm sure ranch answers like that's all
Thanks for the multi million dollar gold
parachute, everybody, the old man he made the he supposed they made,
for five hundred million dollars in all modesty, god so
He didn't even need this job now, I'm sure he just wanted to show others loser. Americans with the deal was he still gotta
Jobbik he's doing something else like two years after this like. Why is this? Guy working go go retire on your island or something so there's a there is an ad
Jesse. Penny came out with like that, ran very
it was very short run intentionally, but it basically please
did further customers a comeback there like we know we made mistakes, we are getting
back to our roots. We love you, please come back again
like they were begging, their customers come back, and apparently it worked
Is this is another common theme that will see, and I think this is a good sig way into the new coke debacle. Do when you take
is something that people love,
I have come to take for granted. They will not only five for it. They'll come
back for in droves when you give it back to them new cook the end
pretty much yeah, so
Of course this
gotta, be in there
growth in the eighties, like we did
You remember a time where pepsi threatened coke a little bit, not literally like doktor pepsi did
come up to Mr Cox door say: listen, I'm going take you up back in bonn
which had take araby of the company threatened coke.
desert jails were due in pretty good, it was a differ
jason. He was a little sweeter. I don't even drink pepsi, so I'm not really sure, but I think it had a sweeter taste
they were not enough, they were winning the coke wars, but they are the colors, but they were
their edging in on coax dominance, it was chuck it was their choice of a new generation campaign.
that was what I had done. It they're got Michael,
jackson, they got madonna, they got think gum
darrell deem for did one of these commercials, like that's advertising,
These were frightened. These were just
ashley famous commercials in so pepsi a kind of come out and nowhere was eating. Coax watch all of a sudden cook had you carcass
yet the coil, so
Coke was lower
they saw the writing on the serbian riding on the wall.
They said our aid under the
and behind closed doors. Let's start rejiggering, our our
recipe here that had been around you know. Since it was, you know
in that very first pharmacy, very, very classic? That's a little hinted puts to come very classic classic.
Hastily and for a couple years, their engineers mixed up little batches. They did tastes test they. Let people take them. People are like I like that.
So this better and so in nineteen. Eighty five in april of eighty five new coke
now with a redesign, can
redesign, you know they kept their colours and stuff in the above measures. Did the font complete
change, or was it a sort of a modified version of the old script? I think that new was slightly different, but the coke was the original. Ok,
but at any rate they unveiled a new coke and it was a tremendous,
not only tremendous flop, but and it costs a lot
of anger in people hoarding their old coat in people decide
How can you
change an american institution like this, without even
asking anybody, even though right had testing they had done tons of testing and the task?
back roundly in favour of this new formula for coke but Malcolm Gladwell
this book. Blink apparently pointed out that if you,
being a taste test. You know soon, their drinking a whole can use,
taking a little sip of something and comparing it to the sick or something else and so
it's possible that the nuke
oh, really tasted, terrible if you drink
the whole can it was too sweet,
explanations. I saw where more than it was psychological
people like messing with their beloved coke number, one,
so they kind of wrapped up in a quote from
but that was that they said the biggest missed
coke made- was telling the public about the
into the recipe because peace,
or like you get most of my stuff? I don't care what it tastes like in, of course
not going to possibly taste good, because your messing with my original coke, so people-
can I turned on it from the outset like they think they are?
I have just change recipe and left. It not said anything. This guy was saying if you're going to change the recipe
do they shouldn't have said anything because that is from time to time, but then that the bigger
problem. Was that you kind of touchdown they didn't
up and ask their custom.
We still want a new coke. They drive
they just made a terrible business decision based on fear of pepsi getting some of their market share, all of a sudden think waiting comply,
We reject the formula that there was their response to that near
unless long, it was less than three months later. New coke was gone and they added classic coca cola, classic
and I remember- and at even drink a lot of soda back then, even though I remember it being just a almost
nation wide relief setting. It was really a big deal
It sounds so funny now, if you're
Some kid who you know didn't live through this,
it really like it was.
big news and sort of captured america's attention for a little while and coke classic coming back,
I get like an old long lost friend, reappearing at the front door
innovation. Of course, there were classic, was dropped in their dislike. Can we forget about all of that and reduce coke forever, but it? But
It lasted for awhile theres, many
Here's where you differentiated by saying co classic even after new cook was long gone used.
Referred to coca cola classic for a while and then finally went back to cook had to do. It is a time for another message: pray
sure, ok, chuck censure,
How do I fix this working programme doubt thinks we heard about your boss, a mug. We wouldn't you say,
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I check Europe what's next. What are we going to do next
well, my amigo we're gonna go with the blockbuster video yeah this, my favorite.
Another for the eightys was pretty rough on
companies it
didn't see the writing on the wall, because blockbuster be grew up.
in the seventies and eighties. Well, you know, if you
teenager, at least in the eighties, by that time, useful
At a time we talked about it before browsing, you're, you're
early friday evenings with your friends at blockbuster video looking at
There is over the shells written in the back of those boxes, the backs of the box
as an institution by the door that been because you just could not get your copy of excalibur in some
and walks up in dumps it through the slot in greece.
Before it even hits that been sitting and
The employees says yours was to do that, there's a green light and facing you do it.
In blockbuster, ruled the video market, except for you know the witch
the love that the charming mom and pop I hadda. Oh yeah has failed
our church even ran their own. Little. Video store in that was a good business for awhile
blockbuster eventually would double most of those. Yet to me blockbuster, as the nineties thing, the eighties were mom and pop places where you'd actually read the vcr, when you also rented beverly hills, copier videos
accurate, yet video, a house that yeah video, barn and there's just as an aside,
I wonder I wanna know a thing by other knows what the name of this phenomenon is, but
whenever I walked into a blockbuster.
a whole mental list of movies that I wanted to rent chest, vaporize
I like that just acres syndrome, they would be like. I had just walked into a building for the first time, let alone like a blockbuster video like I do what I was doing totally and over my head, and I would very bleak walk out with some movie that I just didn't really want to see any, but I gotta rent something
I can remember: ok, I'm pretty much a spam,
self that one. But yes, that's generally correct, so
you and you get home and you like man. I went in there for gleaming the queue walk
I would join, who that's exactly right. There was kind of the wrap up of it. Wasn't that that you remember after you get back home, it's the worse or it was the worst. It would be still the worst of blockbuster around, but it's not because a bad business decisions, that's right.
If you remember in the late nineties, there was a company called Netflix that
hey we're gonna start mailing dvds, two people, so you have to go to the store. You can get
on this thing called the internet and you can.
Look up the movie whining and
in order that
media to be shipped to your house and then even
drop it in the mail, afterward
EL. The mission, by the way I did notice blockbuster, was making about
half a billion dollars a year later than they were
unconscionable because the further business but
It looks like in those late fees like you, can keep these things for a long time.
and they would eventually say- but you know what maybe we should try- and I think,
It was a murderer idea,
right and left of the sale? What do you mean
oh well, worked with netflix. They trying to emerge with blockbuster and say: hey one.
Let us take over, I start doing mailing stuff for you as well yeah. That was the impression I had that netflix wanting to kind of sight and become part of blockbuster and help blockbuster do its own thing and black butcher said no twice
we have four fifty million bucks yeah enough, flanked by the ways of
Are you did about two hundred billion today? So fifty million dollars was pretty pretty good price
it's not just because netflix was an unknown. Netflix had already shown that it was a proven success, but it
hadn't been around long enough for blockbuster to see the writing on the wall. They just thought, I think, John and cocoa any
go. The ceo concern
you're, not just netflix knees, but the internet was still needed in two thousand to the ceo. So now
shrugged and went on their merry way and black, but
you're, just starting to fall further and further and further behind.
yeah. I was actually a member of the blockbuster dvd mailing program when they finally got around to cutting netflix really yeah. I didn't jump on netflix. I was like a blockbuster loyalists as like I'm going to use their thing.
For the same, basically to her and I,
I think, maybe eventually, when blockbuster started, did jumped netflix, dvd
yeah, I'm pretty sure I did but
I mention in the first one of the four segment said there was a bit abydus serendipity, two bits of serendipity that excite finished.
Email program this month, netflix this week, just in
that's the shutdown of their dvd side. I know that's what prompted this hope that follows that again
twenty five years of those dvd mailings. They just shut it down, they said.
Said he you can send them back up until september twenty eightth and after that, we're not gonna ask which basically means key
But you got oh yeah and not only that, but to liquidate their dvds. They were there selecting random customers and their descending them tin. Dvds- our in saying I hear, have fun
apparently point five percent of their revenue. These days,
and just quickly took over there, there monies they netflix.
company to be invested in. I think I don't know much about this stuff, but they in november twenty wine. They peaked it about three hundred and two billion.
the next summer, they crashed all the way down to like eighty
something billion
three hundred and then now we're back up like one eighty yeah. I think that was when they they like basically doubled their their streaming fee, their monthly fee to stream
every like. Forget you, then people some back so
you were saying that netflix was giving way their dvds
because they are now need a bright great. That's such a wonderful thing to do, but
It's true did the opposite of that.
there was very famously described, is failing at failing
as it was clear that blockbuster was doomed and it was clear for years
before anybody actually, before the last blockbuster closed, rather than
physically pumping all the money out to shareholders, which apparently is what a sociopath incorporation supposed to do. They buy
succession of sea owes it to try to save the place in the sea has spent,
hand over fist money
did they wasted on these schemes that did nothing but waste money for blood,
so you try to resurrect the brand,
and then finally, after I think bankruptcy in two thousand ten, it was boss.
A song only, we think it was a good song that by dick
and there's still blockbuster now, dishes
one of their on demand groups of channels is called blockbuster at home, so blockbuster
around check your blockbuster loyalist. Do you sell dish- and you,
watch on demand movies through blockbuster at home. Amazing
it was. It was at the song escape that's about
What song is that, if you like,
Kay, the pinnacle autism. Oh
that song is only bad. It's morally reprehensible,
It's- and I just pointed this out to a group of friends- is last summer who liked it, including Emily
even if we listen to the words of the song yeah sure.
Well, not really another course sid, it's about a guy! That's why
did she on his wife? So bad is can't stand stander that he puts a, but why,
add to go, find some new lady in the hits it off with her and it too.
I'll, be in his wife yeah and they he's, like great things, are fixed.
Yeah, exactly matters in the seventies. That's all you need to that in a little, you know a bottle of canada bacardi in some pills, that's right. The seventies were great, but
the people in the seventies, whether worse,
We had two more which, when you get to pick and choose the pick me you do not. Yes, you do
Thank you for me. We have www, probably problems. Eighty, that's right and technically we have three left. If you want to go for it, but ok, do we have three
What does we missing? I can't say: oh ruin, the surprise. Will we
in order to do that, though you want to do it again. No, no! We didn't do the aol time warner. One, oh yeah, okay, we'll skip it
there is one thing I want to say about that
at the time in ninety. Ninety nine aol was worth two hundred billion dollars and I was like wow that's a lot. How much is apple worth these days.
it twenty twenty three apples worth two and three quarters really in dollars, while trillion dollars. That's how much that company is worth
more than one trillion dollars almost three
trillion dollars just amazing, and this is
when he four years later, that's that's how
gobs smacking lee much like
money has increased by then by noisy, so has its findings
There are six insane. I well eighty.
one other thing,
I want to go on record that we should do and episode on a well and the beginning of the internet, because it is so interesting.
I mean talking about excite in a well in didn't labour,
the first time I heard the word Google. I literally remember that very first
yeah, you remember like I'm feeling lucky.
The production manager named Kevin edge. If anyone has given till given to set high, he
the production office on a tv commercial in l, a in the early early, two thousands. He said there were google and what and he is a search engine scuse me kevin,
Now, given us great, these, you mean a web portal.
Eighty colon, the extra terrestrial very popular movie, some might say so, my tits a classic
some might say that they still love reaches species because of that classic movie.
Yes, so I said racy species at it, but you know what I mean
to me, that might be the greatest mass produce. Candy of all time
I love rhesus pieces. I can eat them by the by the bucket, for
and for them to my love into
They ve, but they ve only been around since nineteen. Seventy eight did. You know that
I mean I remember when they came out my friend. Ok, I was
quite aware. I was two years old at the time. Give me a break, but I clean and I was candy central right exactly so.
by the time I was seven. I was like give me these things
ninety seven day when they came out, they did actually did pretty good hershey's made em, and then they crested
geeks and then started decline really quickly and so recent pieces
here too, have run their course and people.
they quite reasonably that its possible recipes will be around anymore. Were it not for
Eighty eating.
This pieces on screen and the irony of the whole thing is that
It was originally supposed to be eminence and eminence,
didn't bite me. So we don't know what is eighty thing is run. I can give you a dollar for it. Iti was based on a book, theirs
there s somebody describe it as a novelist patient, so it's possible that they made a book version of it. Yeah, that's what it
ok well in their apparently in the original novel, that, with the that was made from the movie, its eminem, that you to eat, not races, pieces yeah, that's good tonight,
now get a ready normalization of readers that allow stark. How was it gives great? Did it differ
from the the movie at all or was it is basically the movie and book for it. It is the movie.
what form but there's, not delegations. I read a couple of em back there. I was a little bit different. They had extra details because it's a book and
it's kind of fun, show this
that dummy
I think so
I would really I'm sure, marble does if you can make a dime off of it. Marveled at sea,
oh depending on how you talk to their different stories. I think this is one of those things where when something
works out so well
everybody you interview later on was like. It was early kind of my idea, because Steven Spielberg is
saw the interview, the words came out of his mouth, that he said:
You know my favorite
candy was Eminem's and
though I thought when eminence past I thought well, what's my second favorite came the candy its rhesus pieces.
I saw other things say: it was well Spielberg's. Kid say that was his favorite. I saw other
That said there was this guy,
Steve Adler who
the vice president of merchandising for a company called emptier. The merchant
incorporation of america, which
The subsidiary of universal, it was, is kind of like the
early days of movie merchandising period like star wars, gonna bust it wide open a few years before propyloea so
this is sort of a newish thing, unlike brand placement, in getting money for that kind of thing.
Steve Adler was a merchandising vps emptier, and
he says that it was his kid who said:
and I love reese's pieces and that kid was me exactly.
so that's how I ended up like her. She said no bizarre eminent mar said now we're not gonna when I
spend a million dollars? That was the deal
universal said this, this,
in the everybody's, gonna, love or just sure of it is going to
either eminence Aris pieces it comes down to who wants to pay a million dollars in advertising like spend a million dollars and marketing? If
in return for basically being part of the eighty marketing blitz.
Who wants to do that and Eminem said no we're not going to do that in recent said, let's give this a try.
there is a guy named checked out. Who was a business seville
met vp, who is basically the person who decided to take that risk
and spend a million dollars which, at the time,
There's a lot of money, we're talking about nineteen, eighty, eighty one, eighty two dollars so we're like two and a half million dollars today, at least, and
The like a tea is. This is where the hindsight is twenty twenty thing kicks in, like they didn't see a script
nobody knew. I e t was aliens.
At that point, we're not lovable or how they were creeping weird. So there
really was a risk that checked out took him. He can take a victory platform for making that decision here any two years. You know that
rest his history as they say cause. Iti is now a atop thirty,
all time, grosser domestically for the
it stays greengrocer.
I went down the box office mojo rabbit whole out of curiosity, because it's just littered with
tars dangers and stuff like that and
eighty. If you'd come a dig in it is the number two all time movie
that, is not a franchise movie nice. So not!
a second only to teutonic, ok
Yes, what barbie's already number fifteen all time. I know that's pretty great and then amazing
I finally saw oppenheimer to my god. It's a good movie, how your ears they're fine,
thud in like our bee x or p x or dm x, or something like that. We're like and seats in everything like this is a necessary is loud here.
also just free movie, trivia bus, if
ass usual regression about non franchise box office titanic than eighty in the number three all time
movie non french little orphan, Annie passionate the christ. What knew how
These are three hundred and seven million bucks, but that's
That's considering it even was boycotted by what
churches around the world. That still me, maybe Y, know proposed no there's no such thing as bad publicity,
Let the swings, you don't take her the ones. Do you miss the most
let's finish up here with the little quick witted will go through this quickly Monday night football.
The tv landscape for you in the nineteen sixties.
There were three main networks: NBC Cbs and abc.
If you see was last place, those
so a fledgling
from howard hughes, which I didn't realize called hughes sports net, whereas ahead of its time very
said? Mister. I'm an even though they show like boeing and stuff.
But at one point the national football league decided. You know what there's pete rosetta, commissioner back then very forward thinking guy he said,
I think we should have a prime time football game had
Did he night, they said no that'll mess up high football.
Saturday night miss it now. There is actually a law against that become eligible forgot about that
So he's all alright, we already planned sunday. He said how about monday night and they said,
no one's gonna care they play.
the first Monday night game in nineteen sixty four, but it was not televising
and then they had a think seed,
Thus in bc had just CBS had the nfl,
bessie had the eia fell before the merger, nineteen, seventy and they
each tried their hand at Monday night games a couple each during sixty eight sixty seven through sixty nine,
but none of those you're televise and they finally got to
instead, these things need to be on tv yeah. So
they started, putting my tv and apparently one of the reasons. Why is because he said you know some of those Monday night games, the early ones, weren't televised, but people still
they turned out like aces. So it is very obvious that there is a market for this, so pretty
tv wasn't. It was
no brainer is still very risky, but there
there is reason to think it might take off so
I think CBS an embassy, since they already had a relationship with the nfl.
I'm thinking. First, first refusal from Piero cell
yeah and NBC said
Well, that would mean we're pre, empting, Carson and apparently we're too afraid to even bring it up. So no we're passing on that carson. Have you killed CBS said: are you crazy we're getting great ratings with the doris day show in laffin? We can't we can't get rid of them.
For some football game and abc just was like you know about that.
nerdy kid in class. I has a hand up so high is about to be dislike kitty from their shoulder in there just women in their see that's what a b c was doing. Finally, puros elles, I guess ABC
you can have it
and
it turned out to be a very big deal. Others again in ruin our ledge their debts.
Kind of spearheaded this project for abt sports, flasher, graphics, more cameras,
More camera angles in slow motion stuff like that and like using I'm a sort of new technology more than they had before you have to say and and
the biggest chain of man, if you can hold out for them
biggest change, was they all of a sudden had three a three percent broad,
testing team which had never been done. It was always
tell her commentator in a play by play person, but in this
case they had. The play may play guy in key jackson. Only there
one year than replaced by frank, shivered and then dandy. Don Meredith was the color Gaia very using
you're former cowboys, cubey handsome just great,
The color position
and then we'll aggregated, who don't know what you're talking about where the color position is well
by play is- that is the person that goes and then
takes the ball on the forty yard line in cuts it outside and runs it down to the three tackled hard by number. Eighty five and in the color guy comes in and says
I gotta tell ya man the way they are playing tonight. It looks
they're pretty inspired. I don't know of the cheerleaders or get them all pumped up or what that's great. Ok, then, who is co so well yourselves, gazelle people,
we should do a fortune
cast on him. The guy is, is a legend, an amazing broadcaster.
Well, you know was fired and disgrace at one point by a quite quite a story.
but Kosovo's just here he was
sort of a serbian. He would make fun of players and people and teams, and now he was the Dennis realised its time,
it's better than that,
You know, because I was very famous for sort of verbally sparring with ali and go in toto with ali in interviews in just a great, broadly
a stern while he was doing his job and he was
third sort of wild card and he and on mere, if we go at it and when when
Gifford came in. That was really a solid team and they they
It was a huge, yet I think it still one of the highest rate of
tv series period on television. Yes,
and is one of the longest running too, although it still
nineteen. Seventy right.
The yeah. Do we even say what day it was well, it was a monday and nineteen. Seventy. It was the browns the jets and the browns won thirty one twenty one and it's been going ever since then so this thing's been on for fifty three years, but it's it's a baby.
Compared to some of the longest running tv shows in america, general huh.
throw started in nineteen. Thirty. Six guiding
I came, the hereafter sesame
Treats been on even longer so its old, but there's older to supply for sure
and it bears pointing out the reason they went with. The jets was because
is the guy
ABC was like we have to get Joe name us on tv. For
first game because Joe name, it was a huge football star
were the film and when they emerge in the unifil and just as huge presence, he was a sex.
The ball is only really bunch. There's like him.
Reynolds are like the two hot guys at the moment, and there
they get name it in their. So that's why they went the jet smart or you anything else.
I and other lesser episode on Monday night football, everybody.
So if you want to know more about the stuff we would say had on over the house, stuff works, you can read the mystery one. We left out and buy
hey this was written by our very own dave ruse, so hats off to a ruse for that. Thank you. We just have to email dave separately and make fun of him for calling reese's pieces peanut butter and chocolate candy. That was around
This is written sought by somebody who is clearly never had races pieces. I mean technical.
You may say that candy shows no chocolate, not at all. There is not a drop of chocolate and
reese's pieces? Well, I don't mean the ingredients, but
isn't it known as a chocolate. You know it's a candy coded peanut butter, candy peanut butter convention
what about imminent, zidoc a chocolate I totally now it's a candy coded chocolate inside and then sometimes it additional internet.
the p nighter. God knows what it now, but already stuff whose candy coded chocolate. This is a candy coded peanut butter tv.
I mean alluded, as I just didn't know that was this the thinnest proclamation of chocolate
Well, I think we already candid kicked it over the house to work. So that means, of course, everybody it's time for illicit or mail
Hey guys, love, love, love, love! The show started. Listening when I was working, my very first job after graduation during the pandemic spotify.
Prompted me to try to listen stuff. You should now- and I thought the title
condescending at first. He thought the broadcasts
could be telling me about the stuff? I already should know at this point in my life- I oh here's out of old laundry or here's how to do your taxes.
the jokes on me, though, because I think when the first episodes I listen to us about satanism.
Why? Don't you know about that? Actually
this point, wherever I started, get into something I do a quick search on the podcast. First deceive you ve covered it.
for checking out. Google are, you sure,
we teachers to make every single topic a hoot. So imagine my dismay when I started getting back to sailing aside
haven't even skim the surface. Thank you should look into sailing guys because really interesting
sneak preview. The wind is technically pulling not pushing your boat yeah.
has to fuller said the wind sucks instead of blows, see teach you anything. You know that suffers
You may taught me that, so I got a head to her.
He told her and he taught us all about the geodesic dome. That's right and synergy to that's right, who
it s from sam.
sam sailing reeks duty of one of those that we would wish
to skip crushed by sailing enthusiasts.
Yeah. Maybe we'll do it anyway,
yeah. Why why spare sailors within it really does players european football players, everybody soccer servers.
If you want to get in touch, it was like SAM did and suggest some topic that you know about that. You'd like us to ruin for you. You can send it in an email to stuff.
I just did I hurt radio dot com stuff, you should know, is a production, and I heard radio for more part casts my heart radio visit. I hurt radioactive apple had passed
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Transcript generated on 2023-11-11.