Gerald Ratner joined his family jewelry business in 1966. By 1984, he worked his way up to become CEO of the Ratners Group. Under his watch, the company grew from 130 stores to 2,500. This included 1,000 United States locations better known as Kay Jewelers. In a matter of 6 years, Ratner turned it into […]
Business
Catch Coke in a bottle
In 1888, Asa Candler, an Atlanta pharmacist, made one of the best business decisions in history. Candler bought the rights to the Coca-Cola (Coke) formula for $2,300 (about $73,000 in 2023.) While it is one of the best business decisions in history, Candler later made a key blunder that would cost himself and his heirs […]
The Side Effects of the Chicken Tax
Believe it or not, there was a time when chicken was considered a luxury item. Today, chicken is easily available and cheap at fast-food places like KFC, Popeyes and your local fried chicken spot, but that wasn’t always the case. Do you wonder why you see few European or Asian auto brand pickup trucks in […]
In Living Color
Most of us have heard the phrase, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it’s black.” Henry Ford, the founder of Ford motor company and also a pioneer of scale production, uttered that phrase. The car in question was the model T, the car that kicked off […]
Content is King: Ted Turner’s acquisition of MGM Studios
Ted Turner was a name in business circles in the 1980s. He started CNN and owned the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks. Turner tried to acquire CBS, but ultimately failed in the endeavor. He then looked for a bigger acquisition. In March 1986, Turner’s company Turner Broadcasting agreed to buy the prestigious but fledgling Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer […]
Forgotten: Payless ShoeSource
Growing up as a kid in the 80s and 90s, there was one sentence you dreaded to hear from your classmates. That sentence was, “you got those shoes from Payless!” We knew the shoe store for providing inexpensive shoes for any occasion. Parents loved the store, but children above 7 hated the Payless “experience”. Pay-Less […]
Doomed to fail from the start: The AT&T & Time Warner merger
In 2016, AT&T bought Time Warner for $85.4 billion. The merger brought Time Warner and all its holdings (CNN, Warner Brothers, DC Comics and HBO) under the same umbrella as AT&T telecommunications holdings including DirecTV. The pairing seemed odd when it was announced. A telecommunications company and content company? Most of us assumed there were […]
Lessons from the Edsel
This car was supposed to change the automobile industry, instead it went down as one of the biggest flops in automotive history. The Ford Edsel lasted only 3 years on the market but left a lifetime of lessons. Ford saw an opportunity in the middle car market, equivalent to the Accord, Camry or Altima market […]
New Coke…… Who this?
Coca-Cola (Coke) vs. Pepsi, the old vanguard of tradition vs. the new upstart vying for the soft drink crown. This story has been told many times throughout literature, history and pop culture, it’s essentially a battle of old vs. new, or innovation vs. tradition. Pepsi introduced Diet Pepsi in 1964, it took Coke until 1982 […]
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Teddy Bear vs. Billy Possum: The fight for the early 1900 toy market
In 1902, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt went on a bear hunting trip in Mississippi with Governor Andrew H. Longino. During the trip, everybody but Roosevelt had killed an animal. A group of men on the tour, cornered, clubbed and tied an American black bear to a willow tree. The man called for Roosevelt to shoot […]
