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5 of 107 records, free, exactly as they appear in the set. 50 more verified records are in the purchased files.
| Company | Fork date | The fork | Options | Choice | Stated rationale | What happened | Judgment analyst | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Read the story → verified | 2013-05-06 | Whether to stop selling perpetual Photoshop licenses and move entirely to Creative Cloud subscriptions |
| Move to subscription only | Adobe was solving lumpy upgrade cycles and rampant piracy of expensive perpetual licenses by making leaving expensive and revenue predictable | Latest · 2013 paid Creative Cloud subscriptions: reached 1,439,000 with Creative ARR of $768 million | reversibility low verdict held | Wikipedia / Adobe Creative Cloud (2026-05); U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission / Adobe Systems Incorporated (2013-01); U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission / Adobe Systems Incorporated (2014-01); Adobe Systems Incorporated (2013-12); Federal Trade Commission (2024-06); U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs (2026-03) |
| Adobe Read the story → verified | 2013-05 | Whether to make Creative Cloud subscription-only and kill perpetual licenses |
| Go subscription-only | Officially to give creatives a cheaper, always-updated, more flexible product; the article documents it removed the customer's option to stop paying while keeping the tool | 5 years · 2026-03 DOJ/FTC settlement: Adobe settled for $150 million - $75 million cash penalty plus $75 million in free services - while denying wrongdoing | reversibility low verdict held | GetMonetizely (2025-05); Adobe Inc. (SEC EDGAR) (2025-01); Adobe Inc. (SEC EDGAR) (2024); Adobe Inc. (2026-03) |
| Amazon Read the story → verified | 2014-03 | Whether to raise Prime's price by growing the bundle first so members re-anchor before the bill |
| Grow bundle then hike | Each hike landed on a richer bundle, so members compared it to a better product than the one they signed up for | 5 years · 2022-02 annual Prime price: increase from $119 to $139 | reversibility low verdict held | Wikipedia / Amazon Prime (2014-03); TechCrunch (2022-02); CNN Money (2018-04); Amazon.com / AboutAmazon (2021-04) |
| American Express Read the story → verified | 1991 | Faced with a 250-restaurant boycott over its ~4% merchant fee, should Amex cut the fee or defend and diversify its pricing? |
| Build more places to charge | Its one price was a single point of failure, so it rebuilt to be paid by merchant, cardholder, and borrower on the same transaction | 5 years · 2023 Full-year revenue: record $60.5 billion, up 14% | reversibility low verdict held | Wikipedia (citing contemporaneous press) (2026); U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission / American Express Company (2024-02); Supreme Court of the United States (2018-06); American Express Newsroom (2024); U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission / American Express Company (2025); American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Investor Relations (2024-01) |
| Apple Read the story → verified | 2007-09 | Whether to cut the original iPhone's price or hold it firm |
| Cut the price | Apple competes on price selectively, moving price at launch on models rather than letting retailers discount, to grow the base into higher-margin Services | Latest · 2007-09 customer response to the cut: consumer backlash; Jobs issued a public apology and a $100 store credit to early buyers | reversibility high verdict held | Journalism University (citing contemporaneous reporting) (2025-05); Market Realist (citing Macworld) (2014-02); MacRumors (2007-09) |
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- The fork, the options, the choice in the form the company faced them.
- Stated rationale as the company gave it or the record documents it, not our theory.
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- Outcomes at one, three and five years or latest, each dated and cited.
- Reversibility and verdict as analyst judgments, marked as such.
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