1. Google’s founders were willing to sell to Excite for under $1 million in 1999—but Excite turned them down.
2. Reed Hastings was inspired to start Netflix after racking up a $40 late fee on a VHS copy of Apollo 13.
3. Just before the Nazis invaded Paris, H.A. and Margret Rey fled on bicycles. They were carrying the manuscript for Curious George.
4. William McKinley was on the $500 bill, Grover Cleveland was on the $1,000, and James Madison was on the $5,000.
5. In 1999, the U.S. government paid the Zapruder family $16 million for the film of JFK’s assassination.
6. E.B. White of Charlotte’s Web fame is the “White” of Strunk and White, who wrote The Elements of Style.
7. Chock Full o’ Nuts coffee does not contain nuts. It’s named for a chain of nut stores that the founder converted into coffee shops.
8. Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas dropped out of high school but picked up his GED in 1993. His GED class voted him Most Likely to Succeed.