Word: million
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Somali nomads were probably wearing them. President George W. Bush had at least one pair. So did Rosie O'Donnell and George Clooney. As well as, oh, about 2 billion children. Sales at the Colorado-based company climbed from a meager $24,000 in 2002 to more than $847 million in 2007. When Crocs went public in February 2006, it raised $208 million - the largest shoe-firm IPO in market history...
...Then fortunes turned. Demand for Crocs, which are named after a crocodile because they can be worn on both land and in the water, began to cool in early 2008. Throw in the global downturn and sales tumbled 15% to $721.5 million in 2008, leading to a loss of $185 million, following a profit of $168 million a year earlier. Its share price plummeted from a high of $74 in November 2007 to a low of just $1.05 last November. It was, says John Duerden, Crocs' chief executive, "the perfect storm." (See pictures of 23 years of Air Jordans...
...same time the firm must keep hold of its core fan base while opening up new product lines. Millions still love the standard resin shoes but plenty of people despise them, too. Duerden says he receives hate mail from nonplussed members of the public; others use the website ihatecrocs.com to vent. But Crocs is confident there's a deep pool of demand for its shoes. Despite the slowdown, the firm has sold around 120 million pairs so far this year, largely to the core demographic of suburban families, across more than 100 countries...
...Society of Professional Asset-Managers and Record Keepers says nearly 73 million Americans, or just under 50% of our working population, now have a 401(k). And collectively we pour more than $200 billion into these accounts each year. But retire rich? Don't bet on it. The average 401(k) has a balance of $45,519. That's not retirement. That's two years of college. Even worse, 46% of all 401(k) accounts have less than $10,000. Today, just 21% of all U.S. workers are covered by traditional pensions, and the number shrinks every year. "The time...
...High interest rates in the inflationary 1970s produced solid returns for Oxy's bond-heavy pension fund - so much so that Oxy's accountants figured the plan was overfunded by $600 million. For Oxy to get at that cash, pension laws required it to close its fund and start again. It did so with a far cheaper option: the employee-funded 401(k). The company made it clear that with the high interest rates at the time, Oxy employees could see their 401(k) account balances soar with little risk. Few doubted it - Oxy, like most other big companies...