Even assuming it's true (and I believe it is, if 100x is really "orders of magnitude"), there is value in having valid research on the real costs of fixing bugs

Even assuming it's true (and I believe it is, if 100x is really "orders of magnitude"), there is value in having valid research on the real costs of fixing bugs across various industries and software types. It can drive innovation in the testing/QA space. It can drive investment in test pipelines. Currently, large companies likely have enough software, with enough defect escape, to generate their own metrics. Smaller companies are left to rely on the "100x" rule of thumb and guess at what level of defect escape maximizes their resource allocation.