-
Decca Recordings in
1962 rejected the Beatles, saying: “Guitar music is on the way out.”
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In 1876 a Western
Union memo advised against purchasing Bell’s telephone patent for
$100,000: “This telephone has too many short-comings to be seriously
considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of
no value to us.”
-
In 1899, Charles H.
Duell, chief, U.S. Patent Office, recommended to President McKinley
that it be closed because “everything which can be invented has
already been invented.”
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Charles Schwab, CEO
of Bethlehem Steel, refused to finance the experiments of the Wright
brothers, calling their plans for an airplane a “harum-scarum stunt.”
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Marechal Ferdinand
Foch in 1912 said, “Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military
value.”
-
In 1934, Parker
Brothers unanimously rejected the game of Monopoly saying, “It is too
complicated, it takes too long to play, and people will not like to
keep circling a board.”
-
In the 1940s Darryl
F. Zanuck said, “[Television] won’t be able to hold onto any market it
captures after the first six months. People will get tired of staring
at a plywood box every night.”
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Thomas Watson,
chairman of IBM, predicted in 1943, “I think there is a world market
for maybe five computers.”
-
A Grand Ole Opry
agent in 1955 said to Elvis Presley after hearing his first
performance, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere with that son. You ought to go
back to drivin’ a truck.”
-
In 1964 a studio
rejected Ronald Reagan for the role of president in The Best Man,
saying, “Reagan doesn’t have the presidential look.”
-
A Yale professor
awarded a ‘C’ to Fredrick Smith’s senior thesis proposing a private
overnight mail delivery service because “The idea is not feasible.”
Smith used his idea to start Fed Ex.
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Ken Olsen,
president of Digital Equipment Corporation, said in 1977, “There is no
reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.”
