DivasAndDjs.com

Lady Gaga put all $3 million she had into one stage in 2009. Bad Romance was all over the radio, and she was bankrupt. Her father could not understand how his daughter was on every station and still had nothing. She told him the stage was for one man, Arthur Fogel, the head of global touring at Live Nation. In the video below she says it herself: "I had three million dollars to my name, and I threw it all in to make my stage." A month before the Monster Ball opened, she told SiriusXM how she was pricing it. Fans had seen her for $20 the year before, and she refused to charge them $200. The tickets got cheaper, the show stayed "really expensive," and she covered the gap: "I go bankrupt on my shows." Fogel took the risk nobody else in the business would. Live Nation wrote her a $40 million check, and she says it changed the life of her whole family. The Monster Ball went on to gross $227.4 million over more than 200 shows. I don't think she spent that $3 million on her fans. She priced the tickets for the crowd and built the stage for a single buyer. If you are going to lose money on purpose, know exactly who is watching. So was going bankrupt on the Monster Ball Lady Gaga's worst money mistake, or the best deal she ever made?