Three Failed Companies That Once Dominated The World

Most of us never think about a world where Windows isn’t the primary source of the operating systems which the world runs on. We can’t imagine the day when another company replaces Google and leaves it in the dust. However, companies that don’t innovate to stay with the times often find themselves being replaced fast, and when that happens, huge companies worth billions that thought themselves to be indestructible find themselves falling to the ground. Even now, cable TV companies are frantically trying to find solutions to the threat that is streaming – in a lot of regions in the world, TV providers had formed a monopoly and never thought they’d need to innovate, but streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and even YouTube are putting them out of business pretty fast.

Here are some companies that were huge in the past but are unfortunately no longer with us because of the demand for their product or service diminished:

Blockbuster

Blockbuster was once the mainstream. This business was all about movie and video game rentals, and before people were into downloading entertainment on the internet, this company was intrinsic to society. However, as people started transitioning to digital media, they started losing money. This company started in 1985 and quickly became one of the largest on earth, employing 84,300 people and having stores all over the planet. At its peak, it was used by millions of people around the world, but once it started going down, Netflix, which was a smaller company back then, offered to sell themselves for an estimated $50 million. Blockbuster’s CEO, who failed to have the foresight to see what Netflix would turn into one day, turned the offer down saying that streaming was just a small niche. However, as Blockbuster went down, Netflix quickly gained popularity and became even more mainstream than Blockbuster was at one point. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010 because they could no longer sustain their business model, and we can only guess at what it could have been had they bought Netflix when they had the opportunity – although, chances are that their lack of foresight would run Netflix to the ground as well.

Toys R Us

A lot of people saw their childhood destroyed when Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy recently in 2017. A lot of their stores were closed worldwide, much to the dismay of people who had grown up playing with toys from the company. The main mistake that the company made was signing up its online services exclusively to Amazon. The problem with that setup was that Amazon allowed other toy companies to sell their toys on their platform, and a few years later, Toys R Us realized that they had missed out on the opportunity to have their own online presence.

Their stores weren’t making as much as they once used to, and because of that a lot of their physical stores had to be shut down. Although they wanted to end their agreement with Amazon back in 2004, it was already too late and their competition was far ahead of them when it came to online presence. We’re hoping that this company can make a turnaround and become popular once more – it’d definitely have the support of thousands of people. However, until then, we’ll just have to look elsewhere for toys to bring to our children.

General Motors

There are very few companies on earth that have ignored their competition as much as General Motors did. They refused to look into what the future might hold, and for that reason, they were brought down to their knees due to the lack of demand they faced. They had been one of the leading car manufacturers on the planet for nearly a century which is more than enough time to warrant the pride and false sense of security that they faced. Other manufacturers started using superior technology, and General Motors soon found themselves outclassed; they needed a bailout from the government in order to keep going about their business.

The tragedy is that all three of these companies would have been here had they been even slightly more receptive to their customers and what the consumers desired from them. However, they didn’t and went bankrupt. Too bad!