I don’t give a shit either way, fuck copyrights.

Corporation takeovers. From what i could find, the most expensive ever was 1999 takeover of Mannesmann by Vodafone Airtouch plc at $183 billion ($334.7 billion in 2024 dollars).

Fun fact, in 193 CE Didius Iulianus bought the Roman Empire (or more accurately the emperor position) for roughly 1 671 480 000 dollars. Very roughly since we don’t exactly know how many praetorians there were so you might cut that number by half, and the calculation is by silver price. Also, he was soon murdered by the same people who murdered his predecessor and sold him the empire when someone with an army and know how to use it shown up (Septimius Severus). Alas.

Most expensive single thing ever would be ISS at over 150 billion.