Just two years prior to this decade’s end, the world was struck by the one of the biggest financial crises since 1929. But despite the moments of crisis and before our entrance to the second decade of the 21st century, we had witnessed many moment of success and technological invents that conquered the world. Now it is the time to go back and review the most influential financial events of the first decade in the millennium.
Euro- became the financial star of Europe
The aforementioned financial crisis will be our kick off point. The global financial crisis was the most significant event influence- wise. When the share folders began to lose their value in 2007, no one could have though that it was just the warning sign. But, when the American banks came tumbling down one after one in the United States, everybody already knew, that this was the beginning of global economic crisis. In 14 September 2008, the crisis had gone from bad to worse, when Lehman Brothers, the American investments bank declared bankruptcy. From this point and on, it was one event after the other, indices dropped percents by the hundreds and many people were left homeless. From the beginning of this year, we started to see many signs of recovery in the economy, President Obama’s people even found the time to claim it was over, but experts still insist this is not the end.
The golden age of the European Union: In 2002, Europe adopted the new Euro currency. The Euro is the common currency for sixteen out of twenty-seven countries who are members of the European Union. The newly born coin, replaced all the currencies which were used until then in those different countries. Just before the introduction of the Euro, the continent was swept by fears and sincere concerns, mainly due to the fact that not all of the countries were ready to receive the new currency. Nevertheless, hysteria became history, today- nearly 8 years after its introduction the Euro became the financial star of Europe.
Another major event, which was one of the crisis’s first sprouts was the oil barrel price which reached the price of 100$ for the first time in 24 years. At the time, experts connected the rise to another decline in the US oil reserves, the price reached its climax in July 2008, but since the financial crisis was officially declared, the prices dropped to the low price of 33$, the lowest price since July 2004. But enough with these “misfortunate” events, in the year 2000 the widely renowned “Disk On Key” was invented by an Israeli company named “EM-Systems” which was later bought by Sandisk for 1.5$ billion. The easy to use, Disk On-Key became one of the most popular accessories in the world. Later on in 2001, Microsoft released the operation system Windows XP, which had two different versions one for home use and one for the business sector both based on the same core, not that I am a huge fan, but it is worth mentioning.
YouTube’s huge deal: In February 2005, three workers of pay-pal, the online credit service, founded the world’s largest and biggest file sharing website, YouTube. In November that year, a sponsor was found and the site was born. Under-less than a year YouTube was bought by Google in one of the biggest deals in the field, when Google paid 1.65$ billion in shares for YouTube. It became so big that we can’t even imagine the web today without YouTube or other familiar sites.
The world’s second longest Oil pipeline which was built in 2006 is the first pipeline which is capable to deliver oil from Asia to Europe, not through Russia. The pipeline stretches over 1,770 kilometers and goes through the capital of Azerbaijan and Georgia, until it reaches Turkey. Oil this, Oil that, we personally take much more interest in the iPhone. In 2007, Apple announced on their new joy toy, the iPhone. The advanced device was one of the most sophisticated yet appealing devices which were invented this decade. It revolutionized the cellular market, and made the iTunes store and the App Store well famous. The iPhone is controlled by touch, and is considered one the biggest innovations in the field of private communication.
Britain’s big break came in the form of a nerdy boy who is a great magician. The science fiction book series of Harry Potter from J.K. Rolling became a huge success story. Million of books were sold all across the world, and with each release the sell record of the previous book was broken once again. Only in the US, the seventh and last book in the series, sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release alone. Microsoft’s Second Event came in 2007 when Microsoft released Windows Vista. A lot of good stuff was told about the operating system before the release, but soon it was clear that the joy was a bit too early. A little after the publication, the company declared on decreasing the price, but it didn’t make a lot of change. Today, the new Windows 7 seems to bring a fresher look and feel to Vista and could be a sign of success after that failure.
The End of the Beetles: In 2003 came the end of an era- the creation of the classical Beetle car was stopped, after 65 years of production. The car from the house of Volkswagen, was created first in 1938, misfortunately due to the request of Adolf Hitler. Over the years, twenty million cars were made, until 30 July 2003 when the curtain was finally closed on one the milestones in the history of the automobile industry. Another means of transportation which made history, and now became a part of history on its own is the Concord Plane. The plane came out of service in 24 October 2003 with a final retirement flight that year and while we are on the subject, let us mention the First Private Flight to Space: In 21 June 2004, Space Ship 1 had complete the first private trip to space with the experienced pilot Mike Melvill on board.
In conclusion it was a great decade in spite of the financial crisis, a decade which was full of wonderful inventions- many of whom we mentioned here, and still we barely scratched the surface.
Omer Shachnai
The CEO Game.
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