That's because it was Bombardier. They have an... interesting approach to aviation. Their commercial aviation department was very small. They did the hard part and certified a new plane, but they didn't have the cash to sustain production to their break-even point. No airline wants to buy an orphan plane so they had to sell the first few hundred cheaply. I don't think Bombardier was planning on that. Then the Boeing lawsuit made them think it was going to take even longer to sell enough to justify the cost. In the end, they realized their time was spent building business jets and trains. The fact that such a small company can do the hard part of designing an all-new aircraft proves it can be done. Boeing doesn't have an excuse. They know that you take a bath on the first hundred or so planes to fill the order book up and then you can start charging airliners more. It's the designing and certification that Boeing struggles with.