Meta-Oculus VR ($2B, 2014)

Mark Zuckerberg's $2 billion Oculus purchase in 2014 metastasized into a $50 billion metaverse gambit, with Reality Labs losing over $13 billion in 2022 alone. Consumer VR adoption remains under 2% of global headset penetration, making this far costlier than the average tech acquisition. By comparison, #7 IBM-Red Hat at least retained Red Hat's core business, while Meta's VR bet has hemorrhaged cash quarterly with no breakout success.