Sachem Head's Autodesk stake preceded a margin-rich cloud transition
Sachem Head took 5.7% of Autodesk in 2015 and pressed on cost structure; by Q4 FY2021 non-GAAP operating margin hit 30%.
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2,000 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDBlackstone turned a lender-owned Las Vegas casino into a $5.65B exit
Deutsche Bank took back a $3.9B half-finished casino, Blackstone bought it for $1.73B, invested $500M+, and sold operations to MGM at a premium.
Read the casePokémon Go let a fading Nintendo's market value jump $12 billion
Nintendo's reluctance to go mobile ended when it backed Pokémon Go in 2016; the game revived the brand and added ~$12B of market value in days.
Read the caseChung Eui-sun became the third-generation heir to run Hyundai Motor Group.
In 2020 Chung Eui-sun, grandson of the founder, was named chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, completing a third-generation handover.
Read the caseIn 2020 Airbnb's travel business plunged 72%; cost cuts led to a $100B IPO
Revenue fell 72% in Q2 2020; Airbnb cut 2,000 jobs and refocused, posted a Q3 profit, then IPO'd at a $100B valuation in December 2020.
Read the caseLegend Holdings turned an Academy lab venture into a market-run holding company
The Chinese Academy of Sciences seeded Liu Chuanzhi's venture with RMB 200,000; by 2011 the market-minded parent was steering agriculture toward an HK listing.
Read the caseCiena's Adaptive Network bet drove growth: FY2018 revenue rose 10%, FY2019 15%
Ciena pushed coherent optical (WaveLogic) plus Blue Planet software; revenue grew from $2.80B (FY2017) to $3.09B (FY2018) and $3.57B (FY2019).
Read the caseIcahn's 13D pressure led Bausch Health to spin off Bausch + Lomb
Icahn filed a 13D in 2021 calling for a strategic review; Bausch Health spun off Bausch + Lomb via a $630M 2022 IPO.
Read the caseTous' second generation turned a watch shop into a global jewelry brand
After taking over in 1965, Salvador Tous and Rosa Oriol added the 1985 bear icon, and their daughters' 1990s push made Tous global.
Read the caseMukesh Ambani mapped succession to all three children at the 2022 AGM season
Reliance gave each heir a real operating pillar — Akash to Jio, Isha to Retail, Anant to New Energy — a structure designed to avoid a repeat of the 2005 split.
Read the caseKonami revived Silent Hill with a remake that sold a million copies in three days
After years of dormancy, Konami's Silent Hill returned with a Bloober Team remake that became the fastest-selling entry: 1M in 3 days, 2M by January.
Read the casePixar floated its stock the week Toy Story opened, turning losses into $1.5bn
Steve Jobs had bankrolled a money-losing studio for ten years. Instead of selling cheap, he finished Toy Story, listed days later, and kept independence.
Read the caseDropbox posted its first profitable full year in 2021 after years of losses
Dropbox had never made an annual profit until 2021, when it earned $335.8M net income and $707.7M free cash flow.
Read the caseGoldman took Buffett's $5B in 2008, repaid TARP and posted record profit in 2009
Days after becoming a bank holding company, Goldman sold $5B of 10% preferred to Berkshire; it repaid $10B of TARP within a year and earned $13.39B in 2009.
Read the caseGeneral Mills brought Dunkaroos back to US shelves in 2020 on 1990s nostalgia.
After years available only in Canada, the 1992 cookie-and-frosting snack returned to US stores in June 2020, riding millennial nostalgia and fan demand.
Read the caseBill Ford fired his CEO and took the wheel of Ford himself in the 2001 crisis
After the Firestone recall and a $5.45bn annual loss, Henry Ford's great-grandson replaced Jacques Nasser and ran the carmaker directly.
Read the caseFord brought the Bronco back after 24 years and demand overwhelmed reservations
Ford revived the iconic Bronco SUV in 2021 after a 25-year absence; 190,000+ reservations came in and it became a new off-road franchise.
Read the caseAppLovin dropped its game studios for an AI ad engine and became 2024's top tech stock
After the 2022 adtech crash, AppLovin cut its apps business and bet on the AXON 2 AI engine; 2024 revenue rose 43% and the stock rose 519%.
Read the caseIsrael García used a COVID shutdown to expand his repair skills
When Mexico City's Lomas Verdes bazaar closed, Israel García bought five online repair certifications, recouped costs quickly and reopened with broader skills.
Read the caseElliott blocked Hyundai's restructuring, then lost the dividend vote
Elliott forced Hyundai to abandon its 2018 governance plan, then shareholders rejected the fund's own 8.3T won dividend demands in 2019.
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