6. Getting Clocked by Y2K

At the onset of the new millennium, the Y2K bug was expected to cripple computers at midnight on January 1, 2000 because internal clocks did not have the year 2000 programmed in. Developed nations believed that systems would revert to an earlier year, such as 1900, computers would fail, and some people feared that planes would fall out of the sky. People even stocked up water and rations to prepare for the end of the world.

This never happened but $296.7 billion was spent worldwide from 1995 to 2001 to mitigate the damage. U.S. businesses and public agencies spent about $100 billion alone in preparation for Y2K.

7. Does Not Compute

A coding error in Axa Rosenberg Group’s investment model cost its clients $217 million in losses. The firm agreed to pay $242 million to resolve claims by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Axa's co-founder, Barr M. Rosenberg, also agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle claims with the SEC, which accused him of securities fraud in 2009.