The 15 Most Successful Comebacks in Business History: 1. Marvel (USA)
Filed for bankruptcy in 1996. Sold off character rights to stay afloat. Bet everything on Iron Man in 2008. Boom: Birth of the MCU. Now a cultural & box office empire.
2. Apple (USA) 1997: Almost bankrupt. Jobs returns. Launches iMac, then iPod, iPhone, iPad. Result? $3 trillion company and the most valuable brand on Earth.
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3. Netflix (USA) Started as a DVD rental company. Tried selling to Blockbuster—rejected. Pivoted to streaming, then to original content. Now the king of binge culture.
4. LEGO (Denmark) 2003: Bleeding $1M per day. Too many failed product lines. Shifted back to core sets, launched Lego movies & games. Now the world’s most powerful toy brand.
5. IBM (USA) In the '90s, PCs killed its dominance. Rebranded as a services & AI company. Today: 100+ years old and still relevant in cloud, AI & quantum.
6. Disney (USA) 1984: Seen as outdated. Revived with new leadership. Acquired Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Fox. Now owns the biggest IPs on Earth.
7. Nintendo (Japan) Started in 1889 making cards. Survived the 1983 game crash. Flopped with Wii U. Came back hard with Switch - now dominating again.
8. Ford (USA) 2008: Auto industry collapse. GM & Chrysler took bailouts. Ford restructured early, innovated with new models. Survived without government money.
9. Converse (USA) From basketball courts to irrelevance. Acquired by Nike in 2003. Rebranded as a fashion icon. Now a must-have streetwear brand.
10. Burberry (UK) 2000s: Tacky & overexposed. New creative leadership. Luxury image restored - now walks alongside Gucci & Louis Vuitton.
11. Starbucks (USA) 2008: Closing stores & losing brand identity. Howard Schultz returns. Focuses on customer experience, tech, and culture. Now stronger than ever.
12. Airbnb (USA) 2020: Pandemic killed travel. Revenue dropped 80%. Cut costs, focused on long stays & local travel. IPO’d the same year - valued at $100B+.
13. Dell (USA) Lost ground in consumer tech. Went private in 2013, restructured. Came back with a focus on enterprise & cloud - now thriving again.
14. Delta Airlines (USA) 2005: Filed for bankruptcy. Restructured operations, improved customer service, merged with Northwest Airlines. Came back stronger - now one of the top U.S. airlines.
15. Snapchat (USA) 2018: Stock tanked after Instagram copied Stories. Everyone thought it was dead. Then came AR filters, Spotlight, and creator tools. Now: 800M+ users & rising ad revenue.
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