Imagine if a corporation could go back in time and rub out the one little problem that would prove to be its biggest headache for the next 100 years.
That is what must have vexed Billy Durant until the day he died.
For lack of a relatively small sum — $2 million — Durant missed the opportunity to acquire Ford Motor Co., his biggest rival of the day and General Motors' biggest rival for the century to come.
Durant almost got Ford one autumn afternoon in 1909.
Imagine the pleasant effect that would have had on GM corporate earnings during the last 100 years.