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73 companies
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)
Consumer Goods (FMCG)
HUL demonstrates adaptive radiation identical to Darwin's finches, with one critical enhancement: the ability to rapidly create new species through pr...
Hermès
Luxury Goods
Hermès spent its first 100 years on a single Paris street perfecting saddles and harnesses for horses. When the automobile arrived, the company pivote...
Haier Group
Consumer Electronics / Home Appliances
China's largest appliance manufacturer ($55.9B revenue) that killed the org chart and replaced it with 4,000 competing micro-enterprises. Under CEO Z...
Hanseatic League
Trade Confederation (Historical)
The Hanseatic League, a 13th-century commercial confederation of German merchant guilds, demonstrates that symbiotic mesh networks aren't a modern inv...
Hollywood Video
Video Rental
Hollywood Video is mentioned as one of Blockbuster's traditional competitors. Blockbuster's selective membrane served them well defending against trad...
HP
Technology & Printing
HP is mentioned briefly as the company that dominated the printer market when Kodak attempted a late pivot from photography. After failing to compete...
Huawei
Telecommunications / Consumer Electronics
CNY862.1 billion revenue in 2024—up 22.4%, approaching the 2020 pre-sanctions record—proves hormesis: sub-lethal stress that makes organisms stronger....
H&M
Fashion Retail
H&M pioneered fast fashion through vertical integration that compressed trend-to-store cycles from months to weeks, but 2024 reveals the metabolic cos...
H&R Block
Tax Services
H&R Block is a tax preparation company providing assisted and do-it-yourself tax services. The company helps clients complete income tax returns throu...
Hacienda HealthCare (Crisis)
Healthcare
Hacienda's 2019 scandal—a comatose patient gave birth after being raped by a nurse—demonstrates how healthcare facilities can harbor predators undetec...
Hahnemann University Hospital
Healthcare
Hahnemann's September 2019 closure demonstrated predatory real estate conversion in healthcare. Private equity firm Paladin Healthcare bought Philadel...
Halcón Resources
Oil & Gas
Halcón Resources' August 2019 bankruptcy was the company's second in three years - it had emerged from Chapter 11 in 2016 only to return in 2019. CEO...
Halfords Group
Retail
Halfords is the UK's leading retailer of automotive and cycling products. The company operates retail stores and garages providing car servicing and r...
Halliburton
Oil & Gas Services
Q3 2025 revenue hit $5.6 billion across Completion and Production ($3.2B) and Drilling and Evaluation ($2.4B) segments, but reported net income collap...
Hamilton Lane
Asset Management
Hamilton Lane is a private markets investment management firm providing innovative solutions to institutional and private wealth investors. The compan...
Hanger Inc.
Healthcare Services
Hanger is a provider of orthotic and prosthetic patient care services and distributes O&P devices and components. The company operates patient care cl...
Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology
Security & Surveillance
Hikvision is the world's largest manufacturer of video surveillance equipment, providing AI-powered security solutions and smart city infrastructure.
Hanjin Shipping
Shipping
Hanjin Shipping's 2016 bankruptcy stranded containers worldwide when the world's seventh-largest shipping line collapsed. Ships were denied port entry...
Harman International
Automotive Technology/Audio
Harman is a Samsung subsidiary focused on connected car technologies and audio systems, representing one of Samsung's three major business divisions....
HCL Technologies Limited
Information Technology
HCL Technologies achieved what most IT services firms cannot: 5.4% revenue growth to $13.3 billion in FY24—the highest among tier-1 global providers—w...
HDFC Bank Limited
Banking & Finance
When HDFC Bank absorbed its parent company HDFC Limited in 2023, the merged entity faced a metabolic challenge identical to a python digesting prey tw...
HealthEquity Inc.
Healthcare Services
HealthEquity is a provider of health savings accounts and other consumer-directed benefits. The company administers HSAs, flexible spending accounts,...
HealthSouth Corporation
Healthcare
HealthSouth's 2003 accounting fraud revelation showed $2.7 billion in inflated earnings, destroying the rehabilitation hospital company's stock price...
HealthStream Inc.
Healthcare Technology
HealthStream is a provider of workforce and provider solutions for healthcare organizations. The company develops learning, clinical development, cred...
Heineken N.V.
Brewing
Heineken maintains predator-prey balance across 181 breweries in 70 countries, generating €36 billion in revenue through strategic portfolio diversifi...
HelloFresh
Food Delivery
Provisioning systems face fundamental trade-offs: convenience costs efficiency, while customization fights scale. HelloFresh commands ~50% of the glob...
Henkel
Chemicals/Adhesives
German multinational producing adhesives, laundry detergents, and beauty care products with €21.6 billion revenue (2024). Henkel exemplifies B2B mutua...
Herbalife Nutrition
Nutritional Products
Herbalife Nutrition is a global multi-level marketing company that develops and sells dietary supplements, weight management, sports nutrition, and pe...
Herc Holdings (Herc Rentals)
Equipment Rental
Herc Holdings is an equipment rental company providing solutions to customers through approximately 400 locations. The company rents aerial, earthmovi...
Herman Miller
Office Furniture
American furniture company whose Aeron chair (1994-present) exemplifies successful good genes signaling. The distinctive mesh design at $1,200 honestl...
Hero MotoCorp
Automobiles
As the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer by volume, Hero MotoCorp demonstrates the selfish herd strategy: survival through sheer numerical domi...
Hershey
Confectionery
Hershey's 2024-2025 crisis exposes the fragility of vertical integration when input prices spike beyond control. The company generated $11.2 billion i...
Hertz (2020)
Car Rental
Hertz's May 2020 bankruptcy demonstrated how travel-dependent businesses can be destroyed instantly by demand collapse. The company—which had survived...
Hertz (Bankruptcy)
Car Rental
Hertz's 2020 bankruptcy demonstrates how travel-dependent businesses faced existential crisis during COVID. The rental car giant's fleet became deprec...
Hexion Holdings
Chemicals
Hexion's April 2019 bankruptcy collapsed a specialty chemicals company assembled through private equity acquisitions. Apollo Global Management had com...
hhgregg
Retail
hhgregg's 2017 liquidation closed 220 appliance and electronics stores after Amazon and Best Buy squeezed the regional chain. The company had expanded...
HHGregg
Electronics/Appliance Retail
HHGregg's 2017 liquidation ended a regional electronics and appliance retailer that had operated for 60 years across the Midwest and Southeast. The co...
HIH Insurance
Insurance
HIH's 2001 collapse—Australia's largest corporate failure—demonstrates how insurance can mask insolvency through reserve manipulation. The company wro...
Hillhouse Capital
Venture Capital
Hillhouse exemplifies concentration over diversification. Zhang Lei's philosophy—'Amidst Weak Waters Take Only One Scoop'—means 2-4 investments per ye...
Hitachi Chemical
Chemicals
Hitachi Chemical ceased to exist as an independent entity on October 1, 2020, when it became Showa Denko Materials following Showa Denko's $8.8 billio...
Hitachi, Ltd.
Technology & Infrastructure
Hitachi's "True One Hitachi" transformation consolidates 573 subsidiaries and 270,000 employees across IT, operational technology, and physical produc...
Holcim
Building Materials & Cement
Holcim transformed from commodity cement producer to circular construction leader through industrial autophagy—systematically eliminating waste while...
Home BancShares
Regional Banking
Home BancShares is a bank holding company operating Centennial Bank, which provides a range of commercial and retail banking services. The company ser...
Home Depot
Home Improvement Retail
Home Depot's fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 broke an eight-quarter streak of declining comparable sales, posting 0.8% growth (1.3% in the U.S.) as consume...
Homejoy
Gig Economy
Homejoy's 2015 shutdown demonstrates how gig economy companies face classification liability that destroys them. The house cleaning marketplace faced...
HomeStreet Inc.
Regional Banking
HomeStreet is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Seattle serving the Pacific Northwest, California, and Hawaii. The company pro...
Honda
Automotive Manufacturing
Most automotive manufacturers placed single bets on electrification's timeline - Tesla went all-electric, Toyota doubled on hybrids, GM committed to 2...
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Automotive
Honda reported 21.69 trillion yen revenue for fiscal year ending March 2025 (+6.17% growth) while cutting operating profit forecast 21% to 550 billion...
Honeywell International
Industrial Conglomerate
Honeywell operates across aerospace, building technologies, and industrial automation with vertical integration. Resource partitioning serves distinct...
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing
Financial Services
HKEX operates the stock exchange and derivatives markets in Hong Kong, serving as a critical gateway for international investors accessing Chinese mar...
HongShan
Venture Capital
HongShan (formerly Sequoia Capital China) operates as the keystone species of Chinese venture capital. With $56 billion AUM and backing of ByteDance,...
Hopin (Decline)
Technology
Hopin reached a $7.75 billion valuation during COVID as the leading virtual events platform, then collapsed 90%+ as in-person events returned. The com...
Horizon Bancorp
Regional Banking
Horizon Bancorp is a bank holding company operating Horizon Bank, which provides commercial and retail banking services in northern and central Indian...
Horn & Hardart Automats
Restaurant
Horn & Hardart's 1991 closure ended the automat concept after 89 years, demonstrating how labor cost advantages disappear when technology commoditizes...
Hostess Brands
Food Manufacturing
Hostess' 2012 bankruptcy and temporary death of Twinkies demonstrates how legacy labor costs can kill even beloved brands. Eight bankruptcies over 80...
Hostess Brands (2012)
Food Manufacturing
Hostess Brands' 2012 liquidation ended the company that made Twinkies, Wonder Bread, and Ho Hos—brands that had been American icons for decades. The c...
Hostess Brands (Revived)
Food
The revived Hostess Brands succeeded by eliminating what killed the original: unionized labor, pension obligations, and nationwide distribution. The n...
Houlihan Lokey
Investment Banking
Houlihan Lokey is a global investment bank providing merger and acquisition, capital markets, financial restructuring, and valuation advisory services...
House of Fraser
Department Store
House of Fraser's 2018 collapse and fire-sale to Sports Direct demonstrates how luxury retail brands can be gutted by value-focused buyers. Mike Ashle...
Howard Johnson's
Restaurant/Hospitality
Howard Johnson's century-long decline from America's largest restaurant chain to a single location illustrates format obsolescence at geological times...
HSBC
Banking
HSBC's 2024 restructuring into Eastern and Western divisions—effective January 2025—represents controlled speciation: splitting a global organism into...
HSBC (2012 Money Laundering)
Banking
HSBC's 2012 money laundering settlement revealed the bank had processed $881 million for drug cartels and violated sanctions. The bank paid $1.9 billi...
HTC (Decline)
Consumer Electronics
HTC's decline from Android pioneer to irrelevance demonstrates how first-mover advantage means nothing in hardware. The company that made the first An...
HTC Corporation
Technology
HTC's decline from $33 billion peak to near-extinction demonstrated how quickly smartphone advantages evaporate. The company made the first Android ph...
Huarong Asset Management
Financial Services
Huarong, China's largest 'bad bank,' nearly collapsed in 2021 after its chairman was executed for corruption. The state-owned company had strayed from...
HubSpot
Enterprise Software
SaaS company demonstrating deliberate succession management through sustained intermediate stage (2006-present). After pioneer phase (2006-2010), the...
Hudson Motor Car Company
Automotive
Hudson's 1954 merger with Nash (forming AMC) ended independence for a company that had pioneered unitized body construction. Hudson Hornets dominated...
HuffPost (Decline)
Digital Media
HuffPost's decline from pioneering digital news to serial layoffs demonstrates how aggregation models face commoditization. The site that invented lib...
Hummer
Automotive
Hummer's 2010 discontinuation ended the civilian version of the military vehicle after GM's bankruptcy made Chinese acquisition politically impossible...
Hummer (Brand)
Automotive
Hummer's 2010 discontinuation by GM demonstrates how fuel price spikes can instantly kill vehicle segments. The military-derived SUV that symbolized A...
Hummingbird Ventures
Venture Capital
Hummingbird Ventures demonstrates how geographic arbitrage creates alpha. While London and Berlin VCs competed for the same deals, Hummingbird investe...
Hyundai
Automotive
Hyundai sold 4.14 million vehicles globally in 2024—down 1.8% year-over-year—yet electrified vehicle sales surged 37% in Q3 2025, representing 25% of...
Hyundai Motor
Automotive
Hyundai Motor is South Korea's largest automotive manufacturer, producing vehicles from sedans to SUVs and rapidly expanding its electric vehicle line...