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91 companies
Patagonia
Apparel - Outdoor
Patagonia proves that refusing to grow can be the most radical business strategy of all. Since 1973, founder Yvon Chouinard has deliberately chosen co...
Pfizer
Pharmaceuticals
Pfizer achieved the impossible in 2020—partnering with BioNTech in January, investing $2 billion at-risk before approval, shifting 50% of manufacturin...
Pixar
Animation & Entertainment
Pixar proves that creativity and structure aren't enemies - they're symbiotic. The most valuable animation studio in history runs on protocols that wo...
PayPal
Financial Technology / Payments
PayPal's story is about strategic focus under pressure. During the 2000 dot-com crash, the company demonstrated what biologists call 'shivering thermo...
Philips
Health Technology
Philips transforms through controlled autophagy. The Dutch health technology company generates €18 billion in annual revenue by systematically digesti...
Pinduoduo
E-commerce
Pinduoduo mastered what Amazon discovered: the same organism can run fundamentally different metabolisms in separate environments. Domestic Pinduoduo...
PPG Industries
Materials / Coatings
Glass and coatings company that serves as a cautionary example of knowledge preservation failure. PPG researched chemically strengthened glass in the...
Procter & Gamble
Consumer Goods
In fiscal 2025, Procter & Gamble generated $84.28 billion in revenue—a 0.29% increase from 2024—and net income of $15.68 billion, up 7.45%. The compan...
Pabst Brewing Company (1996)
Beverages
Pabst's 1996 closure of its last brewery made it a 'virtual brewer' - owning brands but contracting all production to Miller. The company that once br...
Pacific Gas & Electric (Bankruptcy)
Utilities
PG&E's 2019 bankruptcy—triggered by wildfire liabilities exceeding $30 billion—illustrates how infrastructure organisms face existential risk from cli...
Pacific Gas and Electric
Utilities
PG&E's 2019 bankruptcy was unique: caused by wildfires ignited by the utility's own infrastructure, resulting in $30 billion in liabilities and 84 dea...
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)
Utilities
PG&E's 2019 bankruptcy—its second, following 2001's California energy crisis—demonstrated how infrastructure companies can be destroyed by liabilities...
Pacific Lumber Company
Forestry
Pacific Lumber's 2007 bankruptcy collapsed a redwood logging company after hostile takeover by MAXXAM Inc. stripped its sustainable forestry practices...
Pacific Sunwear (PacSun)
Retail - Teen Apparel
PacSun's 2016 bankruptcy reflected how teen apparel chains were being destroyed by fast fashion and changing preferences. The company had defined mall...
Pacific Theatres/ArcLight Cinemas
Entertainment - Theaters
Pacific Theatres and ArcLight Cinemas' 2021 permanent closure without bankruptcy demonstrated that some businesses choose to die rather than restructu...
Packard
Automotive
Packard's 1958 closure ended a luxury brand that once competed with Cadillac and Lincoln. The company merged with struggling Studebaker in 1954, combi...
Packard Bell
Technology
Packard Bell's 1999 exit from the U.S. market ended America's largest PC seller of the early 1990s. The company had dominated through aggressive prici...
Packard Motor Car Company
Automotive
Packard's 1958 demise ended one of America's premier luxury automakers and demonstrates how market segment migration can strand brands. The company th...
PacSun / Pacific Sunwear
Retail
PacSun's 2016 bankruptcy collapsed a teen apparel retailer that couldn't adapt as youth fashion moved from surf/skate brands to fast fashion. The comp...
Palm Inc
Technology
Palm's 2010 acquisition by HP for $1.2 billion ended the PDA pioneer that invented the modern smartphone category. Palm's Pilot and Pre devices were i...
Palo Alto Networks
Cybersecurity
Platform consolidation as predatory strategy: Palo Alto Networks roiled cybersecurity markets in 2024 by offering customers deferred payments to aband...
Pan Am
Airlines
Once the world's largest airline, liquidated in 1991 after 64 years due to airline deregulation and fuel crisis. Example of market collapse causing ex...
Pan American World Airways
Airlines
Pan Am's 1991 bankruptcy ended an airline that had defined international aviation. The company pioneered transoceanic flight, introduced the Boeing 74...
Panasonic Corporation
Electronics & Energy Storage
Panasonic's partnership with Tesla created the world's largest lithium-ion battery factory and 21% global EV battery market share. The Nevada Gigafact...
Panasonic Mobile Communications
Technology
Panasonic's 2013 exit from smartphone manufacturing ended the Japanese electronics giant's mobile ambitions. Despite strong brand and manufacturing ca...
Pandora A/S
Jewelry
Pandora generated DKK 31.7 billion (EUR 4.2 billion) in 2024 revenue through mass customization: 74% from charm bracelets that customers assemble from...
Panera Bread
Fast-casual Restaurant
Panera Bread operates 2,134 bakery-cafes across North America (1,050 company-owned, 1,084 franchised), generating $4.7 billion in systemwide sales in...
Paper Source
Specialty Retail
Paper Source's 2021 bankruptcy demonstrates how specialty retail faces digital obsolescence. The stationery retailer selling paper products, cards, an...
Papyrus
Retail
Papyrus closed in January 2020 - weeks before COVID - demonstrating that the greeting card industry's collapse predated the pandemic. The stationery c...
Partners Group
Private Equity & Alternative Investments
Partners Group built a $174B+ private markets empire by solving information asymmetry: pension funds and insurers want access to private equity, infra...
Patek Philippe
Luxury Watches
Swiss luxury watchmaker exemplifying good genes signaling combined with intersexual choice. Their 'Generations' campaign (1996) perfectly courts wealt...
Path
Social Media
Path's 2018 shutdown demonstrates how intimate social networks face scaling paradox. The photo-sharing app limited friends to 150 (Dunbar's number) bu...
Patisserie Valerie
Restaurant
Patisserie Valerie's 2019 collapse from accounting fraud demonstrates how franchise growth can conceal problems until revelation is catastrophic. The...
Patrick Industries
Building Products
Major manufacturer and distributor of building products and materials for the RV, marine, and manufactured housing industries. Provides components inc...
Patriot Coal
Mining
Patriot Coal's story is one of deliberately manufactured failure. Peabody Energy spun off Patriot in 2007, stuffing it with older Appalachian mines an...
Payless ShoeSource
Retail - Footwear
Payless ShoeSource's two bankruptcies (2017, 2019) and liquidation ended America's largest discount footwear retailer, demonstrating how the value seg...
PaySign
Payment Processing
Prepaid card and payment processing platform provider serving diverse markets including healthcare, pharmaceutical, and corporate. Enables electronic...
Paytm
Financial Services/Fintech
Paytm survived what kills most financial services companies: sudden regulatory shutdown forcing complete business model reconstruction mid-flight. Jan...
Peabody Energy
Mining
Peabody Energy's 2016 bankruptcy marked the fall of the world's largest private coal company. The company made a catastrophic bet in 2011, acquiring M...
Peak XV Partners
Venture Capital
Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India) dominates Indian venture capital like an elephant dominates its territory—at $9 billion AUM, they're 10-15x...
Pebble
Consumer Electronics
Pebble's 2016 sale to Fitbit for just $23 million after pioneering smartwatches demonstrates how category creators can be killed by better-resourced f...
Peloton
Fitness - Connected Equipment
Peloton revolutionized home fitness with connected exercise equipment featuring streaming classes.
Peloton (Decline)
Fitness
Peloton's market cap collapsed from $50 billion in 2021 to under $2 billion as COVID-era demand evaporated. The company had scaled manufacturing and h...
Penn Central Transportation
Railroads
Penn Central's 1970 bankruptcy was the largest in U.S. history at the time and sent shockwaves through financial markets—commercial paper that had see...
People Express
Airlines
People Express's 1986 absorption into Continental demonstrated how low-cost airline strategies can succeed spectacularly, then fail just as spectacula...
PepsiCo
Food & Beverages
PepsiCo's 2024 revenue of $91.854 billion grew just 0.42% as five consecutive quarters of North American volume declines revealed a consumer ecosystem...
Peregrine Financial Group
Futures Trading
PFG's 2012 collapse from CEO fraud reveals how single-person control enables theft. Russell Wasendorf Sr. stole $200 million over 20 years through fak...
Perella Weinberg Partners
Investment Banking
Independent advisory firm providing strategic and financial advice to clients on mergers, acquisitions, and restructurings. Offers asset management se...
Perkins Restaurant & Bakery
Restaurant
Perkins' August 2019 bankruptcy collapsed the family dining chain known for breakfast and baked goods. The company operated 342 restaurants across 32...
Pernod Ricard
Food & Beverage
Pernod Ricard's €10.96 billion revenue in fiscal 2025 distributes across 240+ brands in 73 countries, with strategic internationals (Absolut vodka, Ja...
Perplexity AI
Artificial Intelligence
Perplexity AI's valuation exploded from $520 million (January 2024) to $20 billion (September 2025)—38× in 21 months. Annualized revenue reached $148...
Persimmon
Construction
Persimmon is one of the UK's largest housebuilders. The company focuses on building affordable homes for first-time buyers and families. Operating nat...
Petrobras
Oil & Gas
Petrobras built the world's most profitable deep-water drilling capability, then got sabotaged by its own government shareholders. The company achieve...
PetroChina
Oil & Gas
State ownership combined with geological power law constraints creates apex predator dynamics: PetroChina controls China's most productive oil fields...
Pets at Home Group
Retail
Pets at Home is the UK's largest pet care business. The company operates retail stores selling pet food and accessories, along with veterinary practic...
Pets.com
E-commerce / Pet Supplies
Pets.com's 268-day lifespan from IPO to liquidation made its sock puppet mascot the face of dot-com excess. The company sold $619 worth of merchandise...
Philippine Airlines (Bankruptcy)
Aviation
Philippine Airlines' 2021 Chapter 11 demonstrates how Asian flag carriers faced COVID-accelerated decline. Asia's oldest airline operating since 1941...
Phillips 66
Refining
Twelve refineries with 1.8 million barrels per day crude capacity achieved 99% utilization in Q3 2025 and 98% in Q2—the highest since 2018—while clean...
Piccadilly Restaurants
Restaurant
Piccadilly's 2019 Chapter 11 filing came after years of decline for the Southern cafeteria chain. The company had been through bankruptcy before (2003...
Pier 1 Imports
Retail - Home Goods
Pier 1 Imports' 2020 liquidation ended a home goods retailer that had been declining for a decade before COVID-19 delivered the killing blow. The comp...
Ping An Good Doctor
Healthcare/Telehealth
Chinese telehealth platform founded in 2014, addressing severe doctor shortages and hospital overcrowding in China. Pioneered AI-assisted online consu...
Ping An Insurance
Insurance & Financial Services
RMB12 trillion in total assets and RMB913.8 billion revenue (2023) position Ping An as China's most valuable insurance brand for six consecutive years...
Pipedrive
Technology/Enterprise Software
CRM software company cited in the chapter as an example of successful differentiation on a multi-peaked fitness landscape. While most CRM platforms co...
Pitango Venture Capital
Venture Capital
Pitango anchors Israel's venture ecosystem like a coral reef anchors marine biodiversity. Founded in 1993 under the government's Yozma program that se...
Plaid
Financial Technology
Plaid provides financial infrastructure connecting applications with bank accounts. Platform economics with network effects in fintech ecosystem.
Planet Fitness
Fitness - Gym Franchises
Planet Fitness is a fitness club franchisor with over 2,400 locations as the Judgement Free Zone.
Plug Power
Clean Energy - Hydrogen
Plug Power is a leading provider of hydrogen fuel cell systems. The company is building hydrogen production and distribution network.
Plymouth
Automotive
Plymouth's 2001 discontinuation ended Chrysler's mass-market brand after 73 years. The brand had been Chrysler's volume division, competing with Ford...
Point Nine Capital
Venture Capital
Point Nine demonstrates how niche specialization creates moats in venture capital. By investing exclusively in B2B SaaS and B2B marketplaces—declining...
Polaroid (Bankruptcy)
Photography
Polaroid's 2001 bankruptcy demonstrates how instant gratification businesses face extinction when faster alternatives emerge. The company that built a...
Polaroid Corporation
Consumer Electronics
Polaroid's 2001 bankruptcy and 2008 final closure ended instant photography after digital cameras made the technology obsolete. The company that inven...
Polaroid Originals
Consumer Electronics
Polaroid's revival through Impossible Project demonstrated that obsolete technologies can find niche survival. Enthusiasts bought the last Polaroid fa...
Pontiac
Automotive
Pontiac's 2010 discontinuation ended an 84-year-old brand as part of GM's bankruptcy restructuring. The brand that had been GM's 'excitement' division...
Pontiac (Brand)
Automotive
Pontiac's 2010 discontinuation ended 84 years of 'We Build Excitement' with a whimper. GM's attempt to differentiate its brands left Pontiac without a...
PopChest
Technology
PopChest raised $2M to create a YouTube competitor where creators owned their content via blockchain. The company shut down in 2018 when no one cared...
Porsche
Automotive/Luxury
Porsche delivered 310,718 vehicles in 2024 (down 3% year-over-year), but this headline figure obscures divergent evolutionary pressures within the mod...
POSCO Holdings
Steel & Materials
POSCO Holdings is one of the world's leading steel manufacturers, expanding into clean energy materials including lithium, nickel, and hydrogen to sup...
POSCO Holdings Inc.
Steel & Materials
POSCO Holdings recorded KRW 1.3 trillion in impairment losses in 2024—deliberately writing down steel assets to fund KRW 2.6 trillion in battery mater...
Poshmark (Decline)
Retail
Poshmark, the social commerce resale platform, was acquired by Naver for $1.2 billion in 2023—a 70% discount to its IPO peak. The company had pioneere...
Power Grid Corporation of India
Energy
₹474.59 billion turnover, 180,239 circuit-km transmission lines, 283 substations, 99% network availability—Power Grid Corporation functions as India's...
Precision Castparts
Aerospace Manufacturing
Warren Buffett called it his biggest mistake. For eight years after the 2016 acquisition, Precision Castparts bled value—$11 billion in writedowns by...
Prime Computer
Technology
Prime Computer's 1992 bankruptcy ended another minicomputer maker. The company had been profitable throughout the 1980s but couldn't survive PC and wo...
Project A Ventures
Venture Capital
Project A pioneered operational venture capital in Europe—not advisors offering opinions, but a 140-person team of engineers, designers, and marketers...
Prosus
Technology & Media
Prosus practices resource allocation through asymmetric symbiosis. The Dutch-listed investment holding company manages €163.5 billion in Tencent holdi...
Proteus Digital Health
Healthcare Technology
Proteus Digital Health raised $500M to revolutionize medicine with ingestible sensors that tracked medication compliance. The technology worked—the FD...
Prudential
Insurance
Prudential reported £2.29 billion earnings in 2024, up 34% year-over-year, with new business profit of $3.07 million (11% growth at constant exchange...
PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA)
Banking & Finance
BCA is Indonesia's largest private bank by assets and market capitalization, known for strong retail banking and extensive ATM network. The company do...
PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk
Banking & Finance
Bank Mandiri is Indonesia's largest bank by assets, formed from the merger of four state banks. The company provides comprehensive banking services an...
Publicis Groupe S.A.
Media & Advertising
Publicis Groupe generated €14.0 billion net revenue in 2024 (+5.8% organic growth) with 20.1% operating margin, ending the year as the world's largest...
Puma
Consumer Goods
When a species bears a predator's name, it better move fast. Puma generated €8.8 billion in 2024, growing 4.4% currency-adjusted despite inventory blo...
Purdue Pharma
Pharmaceutical
Purdue Pharma's 2019 bankruptcy came after the company's OxyContin had contributed to the opioid epidemic that killed hundreds of thousands of America...