In 1993, Quaker Oats bought Snapple for $1.7 billion… about $1 billion higher than what most thought the company was “worth” on Wall Street. Following its previous success with Gatorade, Quaker must have thought it could replicate the formula, leveraging its expertise with supermarkets and retailers to generate great rewards for investors.

However, its efforts failed to materialize. Quaker Oats sold Snapple just a few years later for only $300 million, a massive loss in equity value.