It was famous in 2008 that a bank called Lehman Brothers Inc. filed for bankruptcy at 1:45AM on September, 2008 after most of its clients left beforehand and lost tons of stocks. For me, this was indeed one of the largest events that happened in the history of every businesses, since it was rare to see such a large and competitive company went from a big castle to bits of sand.  The bankruptcy of Lehman significantly increased the unemployment rate from 5% to 10%, which was a very big leap.

Lehman was existed for about 150 years before it was filed, which simply indicates that a company which is stable, large and long-living can still bear the risk of being burned to pieces of ashes in a glimpse of eye, while it can also causes serious unemployment problems.

Citation:

“Fed Failed to See Lehman’s Fallout for Economy, Transcripts Show.”Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-21/fed-failed-to-see-lehman-s-fallout-for-economy-transcripts-show.html>.

“Lehman Brothers Collection.” History of Lehman Brothers. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/lehman/history.html>.

“Lehman folds with record $613 billion debt”. Marketwatch. September 15, 2005. Retrieved 2008-09-15.