Corporations Facts

If Wal-Mart was classified as a country, it would be the 24th most productive country in the world.

Pepsi ran a commercial showing a Harrier jet for 7 million Pepsi Points. A business student named John Leonard did the math, raised $700,000, and mailed Pepsi a check demanding the jet. Pepsi said no. He sued. A judge ruled "no objective person could reasonably have concluded" the offer was real. Pepsi re-aired the ad with the price changed to 700 million points and a "Just Kidding" disclaimer.

In 1987, American Airlines sold a lifetime unlimited first-class pass for $250,000. Steven Rothstein bought one. He flew over 10,000 flights. Breakfast in London, dinner in Tokyo. He even booked a fake passenger named "Bag Rothstein" to keep the adjacent seat empty. American Airlines estimates he cost them over $21 million before they revoked his pass — and handed him the termination letter at the gate.

In 1962, The Beatles drove ten hours through a snowstorm to audition for Decca Records. Decca rejected them. "Guitar groups are on the way out." They signed a local band instead to save on travel expenses. The Beatles went on to sell 600 million albums.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that a city could seize Susette Kelo's home and give the land to a private developer. The city spent $78 million demolishing the neighborhood. Pfizer left town. The developer couldn't get financing. 20 years later, the land is an empty lot.

Wells Fargo held both mortgages on a Florida condo. When it foreclosed, the law required it to sue all lien holders, including itself. So it hired one law firm to sue Wells Fargo and a second to defend Wells Fargo. The defense admitted it held the mortgage, then denied everything else.

Red Bull settled a $13 million lawsuit after a customer argued it was no better than coffee. A can has 80mg of caffeine. A cup of coffee has 150mg. Red Bull offered $10 per person to anyone who bought one since 2002. So many people claimed it that the payout dropped to $4.25.

Bill Bader's family ran Missouri's largest peach farm. Then Monsanto's herbicide drifted from neighboring fields and killed 30,000 of his trees. He sued. During discovery, 180 internal documents revealed Monsanto had warned it would drift. They sold it anyway. A jury awarded Bader $265 million. Monsanto's dicamba is still on the market.