The Typo That Killed a 124-Year-Old Business

The choice of a company's name can have a significant impact. Just ask Taylor and Sons Ltd.'s former owners. Up until 2009, when the government designated the Welsh engineers as being out of business and in insolvency, they had been in operation. Creditors and suppliers fled the company in a panic as a result of this.

The business was excellent. Taylor and Son Ltd. was the true issue. That business, which had a single son, not multiple sons, had failed. The names on the government's official documents were misspelled. Furthermore, it made little difference that the issue was repaired in just three days. In that brief time, they discovered new partners and lost their customers who stopped doing business with them.

In the end, Taylor and Sons filed a lawsuit against the government for destroying their livelihood, and they ultimately prevailed. They received $17.2 million from the court. That might sound like a lot, but keep in mind that this was a 124-year-old company with 250 employees and several clients who were each worth millions of dollars. The process of collecting that money took four years.

• Cost: collapse of a 124-Year-Old Business