Billionaire Howard Hughes died in 1976 with a vast estate, yet he never made a will. Upon his death, a myriad of spouses, children, and other claimants appeared, resulting in multiple legal disputes costing millions of dollars. Courts rejected 40 spurious wills, and...
When George Lucas made his Star Wars pitch in the 1970s, three major studios turned him down. Universal passed, and the executives at United Artists saw little potential in a sci-fi film that would require costly special effects. Plus, Star Wars didn’t align with...
Posting a $5 billion loss in 1992, IBM seemed to be crumbling. The tech giant had become a collection of insular departments or “fiefdoms” that competed with one another rather than collaborating to serve its customers. In April 1993, Louis V. Gerstner, who had held...
As a parent of young children, college soon appears on the horizon as a major investment. How do we calculate the ROI? After all, the cost of four years at a school like Stanford University is estimated to be over $350,000. Will a degree pay off? Given AI’s potential...
What will it take to transform your business? Passion? Perseverance? A really big idea? Wildly successful Kevin O’Leary (you know him from “Shark Tank”) started by founding Softkey, acquired major competitors, and sold the software to Mattel. He now has investments...
With cash in hand, you can pay off your loan in full at any time. Or, you can make extra payments at intervals to get mortgage-free earlier, often with significant savings in interest. Most mortgage loans don’t have a pre-payment penalty (check your closing...
