Even the most successful businesses have failed at some point in time. If handled correctly, rock bottom could serve as the first stepping stone a company needs to begin climbing back up to the top. Here are 11 of the most inspiring stories of turnaround success.

1. 11 CORPORATE
TURNAROUND
SUCCESS STORIESB R O W N & J O S E P H , L T D .

2. EVEN THE MOST
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES
HAVE FAILED AT SOME
POINT.

3. 1. APPLE
Probably the most well-known success story is the rise of tech
company Apple.
Apple went into a decade-long downward spiral after CEO Steve
Jobs left the company in 1985 and lower-priced products from
competitors, like Microsoft Windows, took over the personal
computer market.
For 12 years its innovation, popularity and sales continued to
plummet, almost reaching bankruptcy until Jobs rejoined the
company in 1997.
The company was able to turn itself around with a successful
rebrand and new technology like the first iMac.
Now, Apple is one of the most well-known and valuable companies
in the world, raking in almost $300 billion in revenue each year.

4. 2. FEDEX
FedEx was founded in 1971 by Frederick Smith with $4 million of
inheritance money and $80 million in loans and investments.
During the first two years in business the company accumulated
enormous amounts of debt due to rising fuel prices and was at the
edge of bankruptcy.
When funds dwindled down to just $5,000, Smith decided to fly to
Las Vegas and gamble with the last of the money in an attempt to
double it.
Incredibly, he managed to turn $5,000 into $27,000 and was able to
save the company by raising another $11 million.
FedEx eventually became the first U.S. company to reach revenues
of $1 billion within 10 years of startup with no merger or
acquisition, and has been thriving ever since.

5. 3. REDDIT
Reddit, a popular website for news and discussion, was founded in
2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian.
When it first launched, it had zero visitors, leading the founders to
create several fake accounts to hold fake discussions until visitors
eventually started trickling in.
Eventually, Reddit became wildly popular and was bought by Condé
Nast, the owner of 20 other brands and media like Vanity Fair,
Vogue and The New Yorker.
As of February 2018, Reddit has almost 550 million active users and
is ranked as the fourth most visited website in the U.S. and sixth in
the world.
Sometimes you just have to fake it until you make it.

6. 4. AIRBNB
When Airbnb launched in 2008 it struggled to find investors,
forcing founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia to create custom
cereal boxes to raise funds.
With Barack Obama and John McCain as inspiration, they created
"Obama-Os" and "Cap'n McCains."
Within two months, they'd raised over $30,000 and got invited to a
training session for a startup incubator, which provided them with
training and $20,000 in funding.
The company was able to grow exponentially and by the next year,
the Airbnb website had 10,000 users and 2,500 listings.
The company now has over 4 million listings around the world and
rakes in over $2.5 billion in annual revenue.

7. 5. EVERNOTE
Evernote, the app designed for taking notes, organizing and making
lists, was founded in 2008 by Stepan Pachikov.
Within the same year, Pachikov made the decision to shut the
company down because he believed it would never take off.
However, before he shut it down, an overseas investor pledged
$500,000 to give Evernote a chance to succeed, and it did.
Despite recent trouble, Evernote is a leader in note-taking and
organization software and has raised hundreds of millions in
funding, attracting over 20 million users.

8. 6. GM
GM was founded by William C. Durant in 1908.
After much debt and several car market collapses, Alfred P. Sloan
took over and led the company into global dominance.
Then, on June 1, 2009, GM went bankrupt, stripping stockholders of
almost all of their investment and closing down several brands.
A month later, the U.S. Treasury invested $50 billion in GM and
recovered $39 billion when it sold its shares later that year.
In 2010, the reorganized GM made an initial public offering that was
one of the world's top five largest IPOs to date and returned to
profitability later that year.
Today, GM produces over 9 million vehicles annually, employs
almost 200,000 people and brings in $150 billion in annual revenue.

9. 7. MARVEL
Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin Goodman and saw instant
success with sales amounting to almost $1 million in the first two
years of business.
In the 1980s Marvel began to lose ground to its rival, DC Comics.
Then, the comic book market crashed and Marvel was forced to file
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996.
However, the company was able to bounce back from bankruptcy
through a merger with another company, Toy Biz,
Finally, in 2009 Marvel was bought by Disney for $4 billion and has
since seen overwhelming success with movies like Iron Man
and The Incredible Hulk.
Impressively, the Marvel Cinematic Universe now encompasses 18
films, 10 TV series and a slate of movies planned until 2020.

10. 8. STARBUCKS
Launched in 1971, Starbucks saw rapid growth and success.
However, when the financial crisis hit in 2008, Starbucks was
forced to close almost 1,000 stores and experienced a 28% profit
loss over the next two years.
In response, the company implemented a new marketing strategy
based on technology, free thinking and community involvement.
Through its "My Starbucks Idea" campaign, Starbucks implemented
over 100 ideas and developed a community of like-minded baristas
and coffee lovers.
Today, the company employs 250,000 people at 27,000 locations
worldwide, owns several successful subsidiaries and continues to
grow into new markets.

11. 9. DELTA
Delta began as a crop dusting operation in Macon, Georgia, in 1924
until later transforming into an airline.
Delta expanded rapidly until 2004 when the company underwent an
aggressive restructure to cut costs and avoid bankruptcy.
On Sept. 14, 2015, Delta filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its debts
amounting to almost $30 billion.
Over the next few years Delta cut costs by billions and was able to
emerge from bankruptcy in 2007 stronger than ever.
The company established itself as an independent carrier, unveiled
a new logo and eventually merged with Northwest Airlines to create
the world's largest airline.

12. 10. PBR
Pabst Brewing Company was founded 174 years ago by Jacob Best in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Pabst Blue Ribbon, named after Frederick Pabst, saw steady sales in
the 20th century and gained a reputation as the "blue ribbon" beer.
Sales peaked at 18 million barrels in 1977, then began to fall until
2001 when sales were below a million barrels.
That year, Brian Kovalchuk took over as CEO and began to make
drastic changes, including a new marketing strategy aimed at urban
hipsters.
Sales began to increase again and now, Pabst Blue Ribbon is known
as the official hipster beer and is frequently referenced in pop
culture, proving a successful company turnaround.

13. 11. NETFLIX
Netflix was founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph to
combat late fees for video rentals.
Netflix saw rapid growth until 2011 when the company lost over
800,000 subscribers and its stock value dropped by 77% in only four
months, due to a bad decision by Netflix's CEO.
Over the next few years, despite massive losses, Netflix was able to
bounce back and improve its revenue by 47%.
One of the company's smartest moves was introducing "Netflix
Original" movies and TV shows, first launching House of Cards in
2013 to much success.
As of January 2018, Netflix has 120 million subscribers worldwide
and generates over $12 billion in annual revenue.

14. THANK YOU!
Brown & Joseph provides commercial debt collection services.
For more information,
visit our website at www.brownandjoseph.com or contact:
Dennis Falletti
Executive Vice President
(847) 621-6121
DFalletti@brownandjoseph.com