The cost of lost productivity as American workers turn their attention to the solar eclipse for just 20 minutes Monday afternoon is $700 million, per Reuters.
But that's nothing compared to the price companies pay for Cyber Monday or March Madness. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimated that 87 million people will be working during the eclipse. They multiplied that figure by the approximate viewing time and the U.S. average wage to generate their cost ballpark. Here are the events that cost companies big money, along with their price tags:
- March Madness Opening Week: $615 million per hour spent fixing brackets
- Monday after the Super Bowl: $1.7 billion per hour spent debriefing
- Cyber Monday after Thanksgiving: $1.9 billion per hour spent online shopping
- James Comey's testimony: $3.3 billion for viewing the whole event
- Amazon Prime Day: $10 billion for the day of deals