October 10 in business history: $2.4 million for a bridge, 22 days for a brand, and a car with no steering wheel

Three 10 Octobers, each decided by a number that surfaced later: a bridge whose delivery cost three times its price, a price rise that outlived the brand built on it, and a car whose certification is still being questioned.

On 10 October 1971, Lake Havasu City in Arizona rededicated the London Bridge. The stonework had crossed the Thames since 1831, and the rededication came after three years of rebuilding, more than 5,400 miles from London 1.

London had finished with it. The bridge had been sinking under the weight of motor traffic at about an inch every eight years, and by 1962 it was judged too weak for the load it carried 12.

The City of London put it up for sale and sold it in April 1968 to Robert P. McCulloch, a maker of chainsaws and outboard motors who had bought raw desert on the lake's eastern shore 12.

McCulloch bid $2.4 million, doubling the estimated $1.2 million cost of taking the bridge down and adding $60,000 — a thousand dollars for each year of his age 1.

That was the cheap part. Shipping the bridge, rebuilding it and dredging a channel beneath it cost $7 million, close to three times the purchase price 1.

Only the exterior stone travelled: 10,276 numbered granite blocks laid over a new steel and concrete frame, which cut the weight from 130,000 tons to 30,000 1.

Decision mirror: The land was the product. McCulloch's agents could not bring buyers to a desert subdivision far from any population centre 2; the bridge gave them a reason to come. Lake Havasu City's own history records that the hunch paid: the bridge is now the most-visited built attraction in Arizona, and the city has passed 57,000 residents 1.

Netflix announced the split on 18 September 2011: streaming would stay at Netflix.com, and DVDs by mail would move to a new company called Qwikster 3. Underneath it, the combined plan had already gone from $9.99 to $15.98, with streaming and DVDs priced at $7.99 each 4.

Twenty-two days later, on 10 October 2011, the chief executive, Reed Hastings, cancelled it: "It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs" 3. The price rise stayed, and Hastings called it "necessary" 3.

The shares rose $8.63, or 7.4%, to $125.84 that morning, after losing more than half their value since July 3.

Decision mirror: The quarter's bill arrived on 24 October 2011: domestic subscribers fell to 23.79 million from 24.59 million, a net loss of 810,000 after 1.8 million had been added in the previous quarter 4. Netflix's own letter to shareholders attributed the damage to the pricing and told investors the company was "done with pricing changes" 4. The business the split was meant to protect closed anyway: the last DVD went out on 29 September 2023 5, and second-quarter 2026 revenue reached $12.6 billion at a 33% operating margin 6.

Tesla held its "We, Robot" event at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank on 10 October 2024 and showed the Cybercab, a two-seater built without a steering wheel, pedals or rear-view mirrors 78. Musk said production would start no later than 2027 and put the price at about $30,000 7.

Investors answered the next morning: Tesla shares traded at about $219.50, down 8% on the day 7. "No one has really yet figured out a business model for robotaxis," said Sam Abuelsamid, a transportation analyst at Guidehouse Insights 7.

Decision mirror: The delivery numbers are now on the record. The first production Cybercab left Gigafactory Texas in February 2026, and Tesla began selling Cybercab rides in Austin on 4 September 2026 8. Regulators opened an audit query into how Tesla self-certified a car built without steering wheel or pedals; Texas records listed about 45 registered Cybercabs, and the audit covers an estimated 1,000 9. Tesla shares fell nearly 6% to $354.08 that Friday, down 19% for the year against a 12% gain for the S&P 500 9.