Westcoast - the only point I was making is that the original 747 was also considered to be sales disaster and a possible company breaker
HH, I don't think you can make that claim either. The 747 was originally launched with a goal of only 200 aircraft being produced. The assumption being that it would be a short term stop gap until supersonic aircraft came on-line to take over the long haul market (which is also why it has the upper deck cockpit to facilitate conversion to a freighter).
Most of the money that Boeing hemorrhaged in the early 1970s was because problems with the JT9D engine held up the delivery of completed aircraft, and the cancellation of the Boeing SST meant the immediate write-off of the tens of millions that had already been spent.
Yes, Boeing very nearly went bankrupt in the early 1970s, but lack of sales of the 747 was not a primary factor.