> At the time, the machines cost $50,000 apiece. But that did not stop orders from being placed for 100 of them in the week they debuted, according to Mr. Pfost

> At the time, the machines cost $50,000 apiece. But that did not stop orders from being placed for 100 of them in the week they debuted, according to Mr. Pfost. “This represented an amount almost as great as a year’s gross income for Ampex,” he wrote[1]. Now, that's a hockey stick. [1]http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/technology/the-long-final-goodbye-of-the-vcr.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/technology/the-long-final-...