Nike made $126M in the first year of Air Jordan sales

Nike went public in 1980, and the first share sold at $22

Nike stock plummeted in the four years that followed the company’s initial public offering (IPO). The company’s deal with Michael Jordan in 1984 ultimately revived investor confidence.

The first shoes Jordan got from Nike were against NBA regulations

The initial mockups Nike gave Jordan were entirely black and red. The NBA had strict rules around shoe color at the time that these colors violated. The story goes that Nike paid the $5K fine for each game that Jordan wore the shoes in, but there’s no photographic evidence that Jordan ever wore them in a game at all. Regardless, Nike created the “banned” ad, capitalizing on the controversy.

Nike made retailers pay for Air Jordans upfront to guarantee stock

Instead of paying for the inventory sold, Knight locked retailers into iron-clad agreements, where the companies would pay upfront for Nike inventory (but at a 7% discount). Knight did this to leverage debt, allowing retailers a better chance at getting the wildly popular Air Jordans.

The most expensive shoe ever sold is from Nike

A prototype of Kanye’s Air Yeezy’s from 2008 sold for $1.8M in 2021. Kanye West wore the shoes at a Grammys performance in 2008, and they became one of the most sought-after samples in sneaker history.

Nike started out as a Japanese shoe distributor called Blue Ribbon Sports

Nike cofounder Phil Knight’s first business venture was distributing Onitsuka Tiger running shoes in America. Knight would drive to track meets and sell the shoes out of the back of his car.

A NASA engineer came up with the idea for the air-cushioned Nike Air shoes

Frank Rudy came to Nike with the idea of using air capsules in the soles of running shoes to provide better cushioning. The first shoe with this technology, the Tailwind, came out in 1979.

‘Jaws’ was the first modern blockbuster

“Jaws” earned $70M in its first month and eventually grossed $476M worldwide, breaking box office records. It would be surpassed two years later by another legendary blockbuster: “Star Wars.”

Apple started out in a garage in 1976

Shifting the focus of personal computing from businesses to everyday consumers, Apple found early success with the Apple II, which sold 6 million units, and the Macintosh, which featured a user-friendly graphical interface.

Airlines made an average of $13 per passenger as of 2025

Some airlines, like American Airlines (which started the first airline loyalty program), have loyalty programs with higher valuations than the airline itself. The confusing business model of the modern commercial airline industry, including said loyalty programs, began after the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act in the US, which removed federal control over airline fares, routes, and market entry.

US states have reported over $25B in tax revenue from recreational cannabis sales and medical marijuana

Colorado and Washington became the first states to allow the sale of cannabis products in 2014. Since then, many more states have legalized marijuana in some capacity—and it's been a boon for state budgets. California now regularly collects more than $1B in marijuana tax revenue each year, for instance.

Ranking valuations of NBA teams

NBA teams were worth a total of $138B in 2024, with the Golden State Warriors the highest-valued at over $9B, according to research and analysis conducted by sports business outlet Sportico. Dive into the data with this write-up and visualization.

The value of a 400 oz gold bar hit $1M for the first time in 2024

On Aug. 16, 2024, the gold bar size often seen in movies hit $1M in value for the first time when the price of gold reached $2,500 per troy ounce. A data visualization shows what other gold bar sizes are worth and compares them to the size of an iPhone.

The Beanie Baby craze is known as one of the wildest collectible bubbles in history

The Beanie Baby boom saw collectors drive prices for stuffed animals into the hundreds or thousands of dollars, fueled by hype surrounding scarcity and online bidding wars. When demand collapsed in the early 2000s, the market crashed—leaving steep losses for many speculators.

John Pemberton only sold roughly 25 gallons of Coca-Cola syrup in its first year

That equates to roughly 9 drinks per day. But once he brought it to pharmacies that hooked the syrup up to their soda fountains, sales increased significantly, with roughly 2,000 gallons being sold two years later. This video about Coca-Cola's early history is narrated by actress Jenny Slate for a Comedy Central series called "Drunk History," so not all of it is intended to be entirely factually accurate.

Amazon didn't have a profitable quarter until 2001, more than 6 years into its existence

Jeff Bezos, however, took pride in Amazon's early unprofitability, reinvesting the money Amazon made back into its business, prioritizing investment into long-term growth and customer acquisition over short-term gains.

A 30-second Super Bowl 2026 ad is expected to cost $8M

By 2026, a single 30-second Super Bowl ad is projected to cost $8M. Advertisements for Super Bowl I in 1967 cost from $37,500 to $42,500 for a 30-second spot.

Entry-level investment bankers boast $200K paychecks, but it's not all base salary

These days, a first-year analyst typically makes closer to $100K per year as their base salary, but is eligible to receive significant bonuses on top of that.

Peloton raised more than $300K in 30 days during its Kickstarter campaign

Peloton ran a Kickstarter campaign in 2013, hoping to raise $250K and ended the campaign with $307K. Peloton sold its first bikes during that campaign for $1.5K. Foley later said that most of the bike purchases came from investors, not necessarily new customers.

Tiffany & Co. was among LVMH's most expensive—and complex—acquisitions

Three years after LVMH acquired Tiffany in 2021 for $15.8B, the jeweler's profits doubled to over $1B per year.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

The album 'Born to Run' sold 9 million copies

Encouraged by the strength of the title track, Columbia allowed Springsteen to record another album. After completing it, he was so unhappy with how it sounded that he threw the record into a swimming pool. Despite his objections, it would sell 9 million copies, saving Springsteen’s career and turning him into a superstar.

Online Black Friday shoppers spent over 10% more in 2024 than they did in 2023

Online shoppers shelled out some $11.3M per minute between 10 am and 2 pm on Black Friday 2024, according to Adobe Analytics data. The $10.8B online shoppers spent on Black Friday 2024 was more than double the amount they spent online in 2017.

Andrew Jackson was the first and only president to eliminate the national debt

After Jackson slashed spending and began selling federal land, the government was accumulating more money than it was spending. The situation was unprecedented, but it didn’t last. Too much money was being printed and land prices rose to unsustainable levels. Within a year, the economy tumbled into a depression.

How John D. Rockefeller became the world's first billionaire

From a young age, John D. Rockefeller knew he was interested in business. He worked as a bookkeeper and sold candy prior to starting the business empire that would help cement the Rockefeller name in history: Standard Oil.

The lifetime cost of the American dream exceeds $5M

A new analysis suggests it costs millions of dollars to maintain the American dream over a lifetime. The price tag includes retirement, healthcare, higher education, homeownership, and other core elements of a comfortable life for the average American.

No, 90% of restaurants do not close in their first year

Although opening a restaurant has long been considered a financial gamble, industry publication Datassential found that less than 1% of restaurants opened in 2025 closed within their first year. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report from 2014 had the number slightly higher—at 17%—though it was still significantly lower than the 90% figure most people cite.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600 in its famous catalog from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in roughly 10,000 'Sears and Roebuck houses' being built.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Between 10 million and 50 million people in the US develop rashes from poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak each year.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.