For every success on Wall Street, there are more than enough bets that fail miserably. Sometimes, even the best forecasting and most profitable predictions lead to nothing but flops.
Unfortunately for those companies and their investors, these flops mean a loss of some pretty big bucks. Stocks that have taken a nosedive on Wall Street have lived on in their infamy through movies like “The Big Short,” and “Wolf of Wall Street.”
Reddit even has a wallstreetbets thread that touches on some of these broker bombs. But we’ve listed 37 of the market’s most memorable bet fails. Number 23 will definitely surprise you.
17. The Blackstone Group - YEAR: 2007; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Opened at $31 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Fell 42% the first year, then to $10 two years later; WHAT HAPPENED: Due to the financial crisis in the following year, The Blackstone group wasn’t able to close enough deals and their financials suffered.Photo by Pixabay (CC0)32. Brent Crude Oil - YEAR: 2009; PURCHASE PRICE: Stephen Perkins bought $520 Million worth of oil; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Resulting oil prices increased by $1.50 -- setting a regretful record; WHAT HAPPENED: Not quite a bet, but we couldn’t help but include Stephen Perkins’ late-night drinking binge that cost PVM Oil Futures $10 million dollars. It drove oil prices to an all-time high.Ian Forsyth/Getty Images31. Lantronix - YEAR: 2000; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Opened at $15 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Closed the day at $10 per share and have now dropped to $0.7; WHAT HAPPENED: They cut available shares by 3 million and were investigated by the FBI.Photo by Pixabay (CC0)30. Garden.com - YEAR: 1999; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Hit $15 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Dropped to $0.9 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: The company tanked after reporting an almost $20 million dollar loss. That’s one expensive garden.Photo by Pixabay (CC0)29. Inpixon - YEAR: 2019; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $29.25 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Dropped to $1.01 within a year; WHAT HAPPENED: They issued a lot more shares ad struggled to live up to the hype, but their tech has helped InPixon bounce back.Photo by Pixabay (CC0)28. Geocities - YEAR: 1998; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Opened at $33 per share, then increased 120%; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $17; WHAT HAPPENED: Despite a “saving” Yahoo purchase in 1999, Geocities closed down in 2009 when Yahoo failed to help Geocities become profitable.Photo by Pixabay (CC0)27. Theglobe.com - YEAR: 1998; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Went public at $9 per share and rose to $65 per share at the end of the day; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Stocks fell after one year; WHAT HAPPENED: In 2008, theglobe.com shut down.Photo by Pixabay (CC0)26. Shanda Games - YEAR: 2009; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Opened at $12.50 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Closed the first day at $12.75; WHAT HAPPENED: An international deal added an additional 20 million shares to what they had originally announced.China Photos/Getty Images25. Imperial Holdings - YEAR: 2011; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Opened at $10.75 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Dropped by 75%; WHAT HAPPENED: An FBI investigation put a stop to their trading.Photo by Pixabay (CC0)24. Refco - YEAR: 2005; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Traded at $22 when they went public, then rose to $30 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $7.90 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: With it came out that the CEO was over $400 million in debt, he went to prison and Refco went bankrupt.Ramin Talaie/Corbis via Getty Images23. Groupon - YEAR: 2011; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $31.14 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Dropped to $28 on the same day; WHAT HAPPENED: Some of the company’s early business plans were unorthodox, and the price drop encouraged Groupon to make adjustments -- a smart move, given their success!Cindy Ord/Getty Images For NYCWFF22. Verasun - YEAR: 2008; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $5.22; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $3.81; WHAT HAPPENED: In 2008, their attempt to use shares to raise capital was unsuccessful. They quickly filed for bankruptcy.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images21. Morgan Stanley MS - YEAR: 2007; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Howie Hubler made $5 billion in trades; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Morgan Stanley lost more than $37 billion; WHAT HAPPENED: After trying to fund major trades by shorting AAA mortgages with hidden risk, Howie Hubler made the worst trade in Wall Street history.Stephen Chernin/Getty Images20. Vonage - YEAR: 2006; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $17 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Lost 30% over the first week; WHAT HAPPENED: An unsuccessful online share purchase scheme tried to charge customers for the full stock price, even after the price dropped. Vonage ended up with an $800,000 class-action lawsuit.ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images19. Lowe’s Corp - YEAR: 2020; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $56.88 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Dropped to $27.33 only three months later; WHAT HAPPENED: After investing millions of dollars in GE and Uber months earlier, Lowe’s announced store closings in May of 2020.Johnny Louis/Getty Images18. Omeros - YEAR: 2009; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Began at $10 per share and rose to $16 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $1.34 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: The company had a $3.9 million loss over three months, and over $15 million lost over nine months.
Photo by Pixabay (CC0)1. Kadmon Holdings - YEAR: 2016; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $12 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Dropped quickly to $10 per share and then to $2.39 after a year; WHAT HAPPENED: The CEO’s insider trading lost the company money while landing both him and Martha Stewart in jail.Photo by Pixabay (CC0)16. Lastminute.com - YEAR: 2005; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Increased by 28%; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Hit $2.75 per share within the first year; WHAT HAPPENED: In 2005, Lastminute.com reported a financial loss of £ 26.5 million -- yikes!Photoshot/Getty Images15. Zto Express - YEAR: 2016; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $19.50 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Dropped to $14 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: Zto Express released its earnings with a loss of over $1,500,000.Christian Ender/Getty Images14. Luckin Coffee - YEAR: 2019; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Opened at $21.1 and grew to $51.38 in four months; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Eight months later, they closed at $2.12 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: Trading has been suspended for Luckin Coffee by the Nasdaq Stock Market, pending an investigation.TPG/Getty Images13. Viggle - YEAR: 2014; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $23.50 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $8 per share, and now at $0.65 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: With a struggling business model, their meager rewards for watching content left viewers uninterested.Jonathan Leibson/WireImage12. Etoys - YEAR: 1999; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: On the first day, it rose to $86, an almost 300% increase; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $0.09; WHAT HAPPENED: They declared bankruptcy in 2001.Kevin Frayer/Getty Images11. Webvan - YEAR: 2000; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $30 Per Share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $0.0002; WHAT HAPPENED: in 2001, Webvan went bankrupt after they were unable to keep up with their rapid growth.Tim Boyle/Getty Images10. YEAR: 2000; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Reached a whopping $90.75 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Plummeted to $0.12 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: Enron filed for bankruptcy in 2001, following one of the biggest cases of fraud in history.Matthew Horwood/Getty Images9. Mirant - YEAR: 2001; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Opened at $26 per share, grew to $47 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $2.22; WHAT HAPPENED: Went bankrupt in 2003 after a scandal, but a 2005 merger allowed them to rebrand as Gencon Energy.Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images8. Zynga - YEAR: 2011; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Started at $11 Per Share and increased by 10%; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Dropped to $9.52 in minutes and is now at $4 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: It seems that Zyga overestimated Facebook’s gaming abilities with their Ville-themed games.Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images7. Cit Group - YEAR: 2002; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $23; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $12.65; WHAT HAPPENED: CIT, renamed as Tyco Capital, sold all of its shares of CIT Group. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2009 but was able to regroup.Cindy Ord/Getty Images for The Center for Discovery6. World Ventures The Mlm Company - YEAR: 2018; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Opened the day at $0.7 per share (up from $0.035); LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Closed less than a year later at $0 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: It’s no surprise that a multi-level marketing company took such a big hit once investors realized what they were really about.Photo by Pixabay (CC0)5. Pets.com - YEAR: 2000; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $11 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $0.19 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: Pets.com liquidated after management chose to focus less on profits than market prices. Bob Riha/Liaison/Getty Images4. King Digital Entertainment - YEAR: 2014; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Opened at $20.50 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: fell 15.6% by the end of the day and 23% by the end of the year; WHAT HAPPENED: After falling stocks, King Digital was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2016. Sean Zanni/Getty Images for Candy Crush Friends Saga3. Kodak - YEAR: 2020; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: Rose from a stagnant $2 per share to $43.58 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: Plummeted to $14.88 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: While a government loan caused the spike, rumors of the loan’s retraction caused prices to fall again. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty ImagesDrkoop.com - YEAR: 2000; HIGHEST PRICE SHARE: $45.75 per share; LOWEST PRICE SHARE: $1 per share; WHAT HAPPENED: In 2001, DrKoop.com shut down, supposedly due to the poor press coverage of their liquidity. Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
