Both France and Britain decreed general mobilization after the Polish government asked for help under the London-Paris-Warsaw mutual guarantee pacts. …
Britain and France warned Hitler it will be a long war, with 13 million British and French troops pitted against him, as well as vastly superior naval strength and overwhelming reserves of men, money, and materials.
But Hitler retorted Britain wants a world war and Germany will go ahead with the course she has chosen even if it means “a 10-year war.” …
“We stand ready at the bar of history,” said [British Prime Minister Neville] Chamberlain, “knowing that the responsibility for this terrible catastrophe rests on the shoulders of one man — the German Chancellor.”
The Polish campaign was over by Oct. 6, but the World War would drag on for another six years. It would be the largest, deadliest, most complete, and most transformative war in world history.
Dawn of a food empire
Nestle SA Reg Shs. Ser. B Spons (ADR) (OTCBB:NSRGY) was established in Switzerland in September 1866. A pharmacist by trade, founder Henri Nestle had developed a new infant formula and sought to market it. In the mid-1800s, infant mortality was still a pressing concern for any mother who couldn’t effectively breastfeed, and after Nestle proved the value of this milk substitute over other conventional alternatives, the product — Farine Lactee Nestle — quickly spread across Europe. Nestle, quick to learn the power of marketing, branded his product with his own coat of arms, which includes the “little nest” that remains Nestle’s logo today.
At the same time, the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company was also growing. Likewise founded in Switzerland in September 1866, this company entered into direct competition with Nestle when it began marketing infant formulas in the mid-1870s. In response, Nestle, which was purchased by outside investors in 1875, launched its own condensed-milk product. This fierce rivalry continued until 1905, when the two companies merged and the modern Nestle began to take shape.
Today, Nestle is the world’s largest publicly traded food company. In 2011, it became the most profitable company on Fortune‘s annual Global 500 list. Approximately 30 of its brands generate more than a billion dollars in annual sales.
A bean-filled bubble bursts
The Beanie Baby craze reached its fevered peak on Sept. 1, 1999, when manufacturer Ty announced the end of production, slated for the last day of that year. By then, more than 100 iterations of the miniature beanbag toys had been produced, generating billions of dollars in profit for company founder Ty Warner. By 1999, Beanie Babies had become “among the most popular items” on fast-growing auction marketplace eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), where one “Ty No. 1 Bear,” a limited-edition gift to Ty employees, was offered for as much as $20,000. The creator of Duke Nukem bought four. Maybe that’s why Duke Nukem Forever took so long to reach the market.
Popular interest (and the desire for more money, no doubt) pressured Ty into restarting production the following year, but by then the damage was done, and the collecting world had come to its senses. In 1998, a Beanie Baby Handbook was produced that offered some rather absurd forward valuation estimates, later compiled by BuzzFeed alongside their present, far lower prices. Stripes the Dark Tiger, estimated to cost $1,000 in 2008, now sells for $10. Teddy the Violet Bear, estimated to cost up to $5,000, now tries to sell for $700. As for that No. 1 Bear, good luck finding any price information — most Beanie Baby collector sites shut down years ago.
