Apple launched a cheaper iPhone and the App Store in the 2008 crash and pulled ahead
In 2008 Apple cut the iPhone price via iPhone 3G and opened the App Store, growing through the recession while Nokia and RIM lost share.
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2,000 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDYonghui bet on Pang Dong Lai remodels after three years and ¥8bn of losses
After ¥8bn of losses in 2021-2023, China's top supermarket rebuilt stores on Pang Dong Lai's model — the first remade store sold 14x its old daily average.
Read the caseSnapchat's 2018 redesign backlash became a record 2021: revenue +64%, DAU 319M
After a 2018 redesign drove users away, Snap reversed course and rebuilt; 2021 revenue hit $4.12B and Q4 was its first profitable quarter.
Read the caseRomania sold Petrom to OMV in 2004; the company's market value tripled
Romania's state oil giant was privatized to Austria's OMV for €1.5 billion in 2004; within two years its market value tripled and it turned profitable.
Read the caseInvestors bought Twinkies out of liquidation and rebuilt Hostess into a $5.6B brand
After Hostess liquidated in 2012, Apollo and Metropoulos bought the brands and relaunched Twinkies in July 2013; Smucker paid ~$5.6B in 2023.
Read the caseLavazza handed its coffee group to the fourth generation in 2023
Giuseppe Lavazza took the chair from cousin Alberto as the fourth generation stepped up; revenue had tripled to €2.7B under the third.
Read the caseBiti's heiress relaunched the fading shoe giant with Hunter and won back young buyers.
As Biti's lost to imports, heiress Vuu Le Quyen's Hunter streetwear line and 'Happy Biti's' culture change turned Vietnam's iconic shoe maker around.
Read the caseWestfield 2011: Lowy handed the malls to his sons, who sold the crown jewels at the top
At 80, Frank Lowy made his sons joint CEOs; they split the empire in 2014 and sold the US-UK arm to Unibail at the top of the mall cycle.
Read the caseTeradata's cloud-as-a-service pivot turned a 2019 loss into 2020 profit
Teradata converted customers from perpetual licenses to its Vantage cloud as-a-service; 2020 ARR rose 11% to $1.59B and net income turned to $129M.
Read the caseSpain privatised state bank Argentaria in four oversubscribed OPVs, then it became BBVA
Created in 1991 from seven state credit entities, Argentaria was sold in staged offerings from 1993–98 — the last 18x oversubscribed — before merging into BBVA.
Read the caseNike revived the Air Force 1 in 2002 by making it scarce, and sold 8.5m pairs that year
Nike took the aging Air Force 1 off full availability and rebuilt hype, selling 8.5 million pairs in 2002.
Read the caseAncora's board seats at C.H. Robinson led to a new CEO after a firing
Ancora won two C.H. Robinson board seats in a settlement; CEO Bob Biesterfeld was fired in January 2023 and UPS veteran Jim Barber took over.
Read the caseDodge brought the Challenger back in 2008 after a 35-year absence.
Dodge relaunched the Challenger at the 2008 Chicago show, and it sold 9,000 units before it ever reached showrooms.
Read the caseChina's duty-free monopoly rode Hainan's boom, weathered the bust, then bought DFS
A 2020 quota change turned Hainan into a luxury hub and made the state duty-free monopolist its biggest winner — until the boom ended and the test began.
Read the caseTenable turned perpetual licenses into SaaS and reached $189M revenue
A shift from perpetual licenses to SaaS pushed recurring revenue above 90% of Tenable’s mix while billings grew more than 40% for seven quarters.
Read the caseAvianca left its 2003 Chapter 11 with a Brazilian owner and grew into a $4.4B airline
Avianca filed Chapter 11 in March 2003, took $64M from Brazil's Sinergy for 75% control, exited in December 2004, and reached $4.44B revenue by 2017.
Read the caseHasbro's 2012 Furby reboot re-ignited a 40m-unit nostalgia hit
Furby, the 1998 phenomenon, returned in September 2012 with LCD eyes and an app; it became a top Christmas toy, selling out at £59.99 and reselling up to £85.
Read the caseAfter her father died, Ashley Parent kept Mills Machine Works alive and rebuilt it
When the founder died, his children took over a shop that lost half its revenue; Ashley learned the trade fast and kept it running.
Read the caseComma.ai cancelled the Comma One and rebuilt around driver tools
After an NHTSA order killed its autonomous-driving product, Comma.ai shifted to aftermarket dongles and dashcams, then raised another $5 million.
Read the caseHesteel rebuilt Serbia's Smederevo steel mill into the country's top exporter
China's Hesteel bought Serbia's dying state steelworks for €46 million in 2016, restarted both blast furnaces, and made the mill Serbia's number one exporter.
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