How Dumb Can You Go?

March 12, 2002

Business 2.0 presents 101 Dumbest Moments in Business. Some of the highlights include:

20. The Gartner Group issues trading cards featuring its analysts.

55. Houston, We Have a Problem, Part 7: Richard Gross, an analyst at Lehman Bros. , maintains a "strong buy" rating on Enron as the stock declines from $81 to $0.75. A Lehman spokesperson helpfully explains to the New York Times that the firm was advising Dynegy on its purchase of Enron's pipeline, and it is Lehman's policy not to change the firm's rating on any company involved in a deal in which Lehman is an adviser.

67. "I only flew Concorde three times, and they were all special offers." -- Kajsa Leander, co-founder of Boo.com

85. Still Partying Like It's 1999, Part 3: Peter Chung, a newly hired associate at the Carlyle Group , sends an e-mail to his friends bragging about his lavish new lifestyle. The e-mail -- in which he boasts of the "hot chicks" he's bedding and concludes, "CHUNG is KING of his domain here in Seoul" -- is sent to thousands of other people and eventually makes its way back to his bosses. Chung, no longer king of his domain, is summarily fired.