What are some notable blunders in history that resulted in huge loss?

Loss in terms of money or efforts. Could be recent or ancient.

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Target's failed expansion into Canada. It's taught as a case study on what not to do in business schools now.
- Walmart's attempt to break into the German market is hilarious
  Burger King tried to open up in France and literally nobody would eat their muck. So when McDonald's tried, they had to completely change their menu and service style. Hence, "McDo's" in France is actually quite good
  
  When I was in France this past spring I did see advertisements for Burger King so they must have had some success. I do remember McDonald's having great dessert options.
  
  Yes, BK lost a ton of cash, so learned from Maccies and reopened. The way they pronounce "Boorgehr Keeng" in the adverts make you want to cut off your fuckin ears with an angle grinder though
  
  Ah I see. The ads I saw were on billboards so thankfully didn't have to hear them. They were advertising some kind of "Louisiana" style chicken sandwich, which was ironic because the French find black pepper spicy. I can only imagine how mild it must actually be.
  
  Oh aye, Texmex restaurants are few and far between, and the authentic southern American places have to chill out their recipes and leave a bottle of chilli sauce on the table. The Argentinian place near me is run by an older lady and you can see her die inside a little bit every time a Frenchman starts sweating from eating a tortilla
  
  Haha, yeah we went to an Indian restaurant in Nimes because my friend has a severe gluten allergy. I had a vindaloo there that was milder than any food I've had in North America.
- Wendy's tried to get into the Netherlands, but couldn't, because there was already a snackbar (think small fastfood place but greasier) that was registered under the name "Wendy's" at the chamber of commerce. This spawned a lawsuit. You had Wendy's, a local snackbar who claimed rights to the name because they were already established, and Wendy's, a franchise coming from America. They claimed right to the name because they were a franchise, and not just a single fastfood joint.
  To solve this issue, the local snackbar opened up a second location, making local Wendy's a franchise, and winning them the lawsuit
- It was so weird when Target opened in my city. Everyone was pumped for the great deals Americans are always on about. The grand opening comes, and it was basically just a super expensive Walmart with half the products out of stock. Then they closed without notice like a month later. Employees came in the morning to open up and there were chains on the doors.
- I’m not familiar with this story, could you give some details?
  
  Empty stores, somehow, store managers had a perverse incentive to keep store inventory levels low. Their prices were really high as well. A rushed SAP implementation meant that executives didn't have enough insight into business operations. You can read more here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Canada

213 comments