- Warren Buffett took a $60 million hit after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2007, according to the Boston Globe.
- The famed investor’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate made the payout after insuring a promotion by one of its businesses, Jordan’s Furniture.
- Jordan’s Furniture offered refunds on all sofas, beds, mattresses, and dining-room tables sold between March 8 and April 16 if the Red Sox won the baseball championship that year.
- Nearly 30,000 people received free furniture as a result.
- The promotion didn’t seem crazy at the time, as the Red Sox didn’t win the championship for 86 years between 1918 and 2004.
- View Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Warren Buffett took a $60 million hit after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2007.
The famed investor’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate made the payout after insuring a promotion by one of its businesses, Jordan’s Furniture.
The retailer offered refunds on all sofas, beds, mattresses, and dining-room tables sold between March 8 and April 16 if the Red Sox won the baseball championship that year, according to Boston.com.
“It cost Berkshire Hathaway $60 million, or something like that,” Buffett said at Fenway Park in 2019, according to the Boston Globe.
He revealed the damage to the Globe’s managing director, Linda Henry – whose husband John is the principal owner of the Red Sox – as part of Curated Conversations, an interview series by HUBweek and Boston.com.
Nearly 30,000 people received free furniture thanks to Jordan’s “Monster Deal” promotion, according to ABC News. The $60 million payout suggests they spent on average about $2,000 each on eligible products.
Jordan’s CEO Eliot Tatelman wasn’t annoyed about refunding his customers – and not just because Buffett footed the bill.
“I’ve always been a Red Sox fan, lived in Boston my whole life,” he told ABC News. “I said, ‘What a great way to support the team, what a great way to tie ourselves in with the Red Sox, and what a great way to get everybody rooting for the Red Sox and sell a lot of furniture.'”
Tatelman’s promotion didn’t seem crazy at the time. The Red Sox suffered one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history, winning the title in 1918 then waiting 86 years until they won it again in 2004.
Superstitious fans blamed the team’s struggles on the “Curse of the Bambino,” as the Red Sox sold legendary hitter Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920.
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