Biology of Business

S

147 companies

Spotify

Music Streaming / Technology

When Daniel Ek launched Spotify in Sweden in 2006, record labels viewed streaming as legalized piracy - micro-payments devaluing music far below CD sa...

7 mentions

Samsung

Conglomerate (Electronics, Shipbuilding, Insurance, Theme Parks)

Samsung is a $240 billion conglomerate spanning electronics, shipbuilding, life insurance, theme parks, and hotels - 270,000+ employees operating acro...

5 mentions

Stripe

Financial Technology / Payments

Stripe made payment integration take seven lines of code instead of six months and $100,000. But that simplicity required 10× more engineering effort...

4 mentions private

Shopify

E-commerce Platform & Technology

Shopify started when Tobias Lütke wanted to sell snowboards online and found every platform inadequate. So he built his own - then realized the infras...

3 mentions nasdaq100

Safaricom / M-Pesa

Mobile Financial Services

Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile operator, launched M-Pesa ('mobile money') in 2007, creating one of the most successful examples of business symbios...

2 mentions

SAP

Enterprise Software

A €34.18 billion enterprise software organism operates as ecosystem engineer at global scale, where 77% of transaction revenue worldwide touches SAP s...

2 mentions dax40

Sony

Consumer Electronics & Gaming

Sony is a study in contrasts: brilliant at sensing market shifts, vulnerable to breaches of trust. When Kodak failed to act on its own digital camera...

2 mentions

Starbucks

Coffee Retail

Starbucks' Australian failure represents the definitive case study of the Phenotype Fallacy - copying the visible expression of success without unders...

2 mentions sp500, nasdaq100

SABMiller

Beverages/Brewing

SABMiller's $107 billion acquisition by AB InBev (completed October 2016) represents the largest-scale corporate digestion in brewing history—and a ma...

1 mention

Sears

Retail

Sears' extinction is a masterclass in how dominant species die - not from catastrophic events, but from ignoring incremental environmental shifts. Onc...

1 mention

Siemens

Industrial/Medical Equipment

Siemens is a 177-year-old German industrial conglomerate that demonstrates how large organizations scale without collapsing under coordination costs....

1 mention dax40

Signify

Lighting

Signify is a lighting company spun off from Philips Lighting in 2016. The company pioneered 'light as a service' for commercial customers, retaining o...

1 mention

Skanska AB

Construction/Engineering

Skanska, one of the world's largest construction and project development firms founded in Sweden in 1887, builds projects where acoustic communication...

1 mention

Slack

Technology/Enterprise Software

Slack entered the enterprise software market with a weapon competitors didn't expect: color. In a landscape dominated by boring blue-and-gray tools, S...

1 mention

SoftBank Group

Investment / Conglomerate

SoftBank appears as the crucial capital provider enabling Grab's ecological release strategy. SoftBank invested $2 billion in Grab's Series B - the la...

1 mention

SpaceX

Aerospace

SpaceX's valuation exploded from $200 billion in mid-2024 to $800 billion by December 2025—quadrupling in 18 months while remaining private. This expo...

1 mention private

Standard Oil

Oil & Gas

John D. Rockefeller's company that from 1870-1911 established and maintained an industry-wide pecking order controlling 90% of US oil refining. The bi...

1 mention

Saab Automobile

Automotive

Saab Automobile's 2011 bankruptcy ended 64 years of Swedish automotive engineering after GM's divestiture left the company without resources. GM had a...

Defunct

Sabena

Aviation

Sabena's 2001 bankruptcy ended Belgium's 78-year-old flag carrier and triggered Swissair's collapse. The airline had been chronically unprofitable for...

Defunct

Safeway

Retail Grocery

Grocery chain that planned partnership with Theranos for 800 locations before the technology fraud was exposed. Lost hundreds of millions when Therano...

Safran

Aerospace

CFM International delivered 729 LEAP engines in H1 2025, up 10% year-over-year, with each engine containing Safran-built components that took decades...

eurostoxx

SAIC Motor Corporation

Automotive

Joint venture dependence creates obligate mutualism vulnerability: SAIC's 2024 wholesale volume fell 20.07% to 4.01 million vehicles as partnerships w...

csi300

Saint-Gobain

Industrial

Saint-Gobain posted €47.9 billion revenue in 2024 with record 11.4% operating margin and €4 billion free cash flow, selling construction materials acr...

cac40

Salesforce

Technology/Enterprise Software

Agentforce processed 3.2 trillion tokens in its first 90 days and closed 9,500 paid deals by December 2025. This explosive adoption mirrors bacterial...

sp500

Sam Goody / Musicland

Retail

Musicland's 2006 bankruptcy collapsed Sam Goody, Suncoast, and Media Play stores after Best Buy sold the chain for $408 million less than it paid. The...

Defunct

Sambo's Restaurants

Restaurant

Sambo's collapse from 1,117 locations in 1979 to bankruptcy in 1981 demonstrates how brand toxicity can kill organisms rapidly. The restaurant's name...

Defunct

Sampo Group

Insurance & Financial Services

Sampo Group operates as Nordic insurance infrastructure with €10.8 billion revenue, demonstrating how risk-pooling mechanisms enable economic activity...

omx25

Samsung Electronics

Technology/Electronics

Samsung Electronics is one of the world's largest technology companies, headquartered in Suwon, South Korea. The company exemplifies sophisticated mod...

kospi

Samsung SDI

Battery Manufacturing

Samsung SDI recorded operating losses through Q1-Q3 2025 while committing $3.5 billion to a General Motors joint venture in Indiana (36 GWh annual cap...

kospi

Sanchez Energy

Oil & Gas

Sanchez Energy's August 2019 bankruptcy collapsed an Eagle Ford shale operator that had grown through aggressive drilling and acquisition. The company...

Defunct

SandRidge Energy

Oil & Gas

SandRidge Energy's 2016 bankruptcy demonstrates activist investor destruction of a vulnerable organism. Carl Icahn's aggressive intervention produced...

Defunct

Sandvik AB

Mining & Construction Equipment

Sandvik's SEK 123 billion in 2024 revenue with 19.2% EBITA margin masks the strategic shift from selling equipment to capturing lifecycle value. Minin...

nasdaq-stockholm

Sanlam

Insurance & Financial Services

Sanlam's SanlamAllianz joint venture reveals coalition formation at intercontinental scale. In 2024, the company merged its pan-African insurance oper...

jse

Sanofi

Pharmaceuticals

Sanofi generated €41.1 billion revenue in 2024 (up 9%) with Dupixent blockbuster drug hitting €15.125 billion (up 22%), while simultaneously deploying...

cac40

Santos Limited

Energy

Santos operates as a classic source-sink organism, extracting concentrated energy reserves from geological deposits and distributing them across Asia-...

asx200

SAP SuccessFactors

Technology/Enterprise Software

Cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software platform, originally founded as SuccessFactors in 2001 (performance management software), then acq...

Sasol

Energy & Chemicals

Sasol's Fischer-Tropsch technology performs metabolic alchemy: transforming coal and natural gas—low-value, abundant feedstocks—into liquid fuels, spe...

jsetop40

Saturn Corporation

Automotive

Saturn's 2009 discontinuation ended GM's experiment in different labor relations and customer experience. Launched in 1990 as a 'different kind of car...

Defunct

Satyam Computer Services

Information Technology

Satyam's 2009 fraud revelation showed $1 billion in fictitious assets at India's fourth-largest IT services company. Founder Ramalinga Raju confessed...

Defunct

Saudi Aramco

Energy / Oil & Gas

The world's largest oil company - valued at $2+ trillion, producing 10+ million barrels daily - proves that in capital-intensive industries, size isn'...

Sbarro

Restaurants - Fast Food

Sbarro's multiple bankruptcies (2011, 2014) demonstrate how mall dependency became existential risk as retail shifted online. The pizza chain's food c...

Defunct, Private

Scale AI

Artificial Intelligence

Scale AI provides data labeling for training AI models. Platform economics with economies of scale in annotation services.

private

Scentre Group

Retail Property

Scentre Group manages 42 Westfield shopping centers across Australia and New Zealand with $50.7 billion in assets under management, maintaining 99.8%...

asx200

Schibsted ASA

Media & Publishing

A 183-year-old media institution split itself in June 2024 like a cell entering mitosis, separating news operations from digital marketplaces to creat...

oslo

Schindler

Elevators & Escalators

Schindler discovered what Otis and KONE also learned: elevator economics reward service contracts over hardware sales. Founded 1874, the company gener...

smi

Schneider Electric

Electrical Equipment

Schneider Electric posted €38.15 billion revenue in 2024 (8.4% organic growth) with €4.2 billion free cash flow and 18.6% adjusted EBITA margin, drive...

cac40

Sea Limited

Technology & E-commerce

Sea Limited is Southeast Asia's leading internet company with three core businesses: Garena (gaming), Shopee (e-commerce), and SeaMoney (digital finan...

nyse

Seacoast Banking Corporation

Regional Banking

Community bank holding company providing integrated financial services through Seacoast Bank. Serves individuals and businesses in Florida with tradit...

russell2000

Sears Holdings

Retail

Sears' 2018 bankruptcy ended a 132-year run that once made it America's largest retailer. The company's collapse wasn't sudden—it was a 30-year extinc...

Defunct, Bankrupt

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Newspaper

The Seattle P-I's 2009 print closure ended 146 years of newspaper publishing, becoming online-only with a tiny staff. Like the Rocky Mountain News, it...

Defunct print

Secret

Social Media

Secret's 2015 shutdown after raising $35 million demonstrates how anonymous apps face rapid user exodus when novelty fades. The anonymous sharing app...

Defunct

See's Candies

Confectionery Retail

See's Candies operates 240+ stores concentrated in California and the Western United States, generating consistent cash flow for Berkshire Hathaway si...

SelectQuote

Insurance Distribution

Direct-to-consumer distribution platform for insurance products helping consumers comparison shop for coverage. Specializes in senior health, life, an...

russell2000

Sephora

Beauty Retail

Sephora isn't a retailer—it's a constructed ecosystem where beauty brands compete for shelf space, customer attention, and survival. As part of LVMH's...

private

Sequoia Capital

Venture Capital

In 2025, Sequoia Capital managed approximately $56 billion in assets and announced two new funds totaling $950 million: a $750 million early-stage fun...

ServiceNow

Enterprise Software

Market dominance through ecosystem entanglement: ServiceNow's 44.4% market share in IT service management isn't defended through product superiority a...

sp500, nasdaq100

ServisFirst Bank

Commercial Banking

Commercial banking institution providing business banking services primarily in the southeastern United States. Focuses on relationship banking with c...

russell2000

Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd.

Retail & Convenience Stores

Seven & i Holdings operates the 7-Eleven convenience store chain and various retail businesses globally. The company is the world's largest convenienc...

nikkei225, topix

Seventh Generation

Consumer Goods/Household Products

Seventh Generation is mentioned as a Unilever acquisition demonstrating modular brand portfolio management where acquired brands maintain autonomy in...

SF Holding

Logistics & Delivery

SF Holding is China's leading express delivery and logistics company, known for premium service quality with integrated air cargo, ground transportati...

csi300

Shake Shack

Fast-casual Restaurant

Shake Shack discovered the ultimate competitive advantage isn't better burgers—it's lower operating costs at scale. Under CEO Rob Lynch (May 2024), th...

russell2000

Sharp Corporation (Crisis)

Electronics

Sharp's 2016 sale to Foxconn after near-bankruptcy demonstrates how display panel overcapacity can destroy technology leaders. The Japanese pioneer in...

Sold to Foxconn

Sharp Mobile

Technology

Sharp's mobile phone struggles led to Foxconn acquisition of Sharp in 2016. The display pioneer's phone business couldn't compete globally despite tec...

Defunct

Sharper Image

Retail

Sharper Image's 2008 bankruptcy collapsed the gadget retailer after its main product, the Ionic Breeze air purifier, was exposed as ineffective. Consu...

Defunct

Shein

E-commerce

Shein generated $38 billion revenue in 2024 (up 23% year-over-year) by perfecting metabolic speed no incumbent could match. The company produces 37 ti...

private

Shell plc

Energy

Shell navigates ecological succession from oil-age climax to energy transition pioneer—but shows symptoms of mature-stage blindness. The Anglo-Dutch e...

ftse100

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

Chemicals

Shin-Etsu Chemical occupies oligopolistic niches across two unrelated markets: global #1 in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and silicon wafers. This dual dom...

nikkei225, topix

ShipBob

Logistics

Third-party logistics (3PL) provider recommended for seed-stage e-commerce companies. Charges $3-6/order all-in, representing 20-30% infrastructure ta...

Shiseido

Cosmetics/Consumer Goods

Japanese cosmetics giant with over 150 years of history, facing classic power law challenge of extreme SKU proliferation. Analysis revealed approximat...

Shopee (Sea Limited)

E-commerce

Shopee is Southeast Asia's leading e-commerce platform, part of Sea Limited, offering C2C and B2C marketplace services. The company has grown to domin...

nyse

Shopko

Retail

Shopko's January 2019 bankruptcy collapsed a Midwestern discount department store chain serving small towns that Walmart and Target ignored. The compa...

Defunct

Shoprite Holdings

Retail & Consumer

Shoprite Holdings opened 363 stores in FY2025, expanding to 3,478 total locations across eight African countries—but the remarkable achievement isn't...

jse, jsetop40

Shutterfly (LBO)

Consumer Services

Shutterfly was taken private in a $2.7 billion LBO in 2019, then struggled under the debt load as photo printing declined and COVID disrupted the even...

LBO

Shyp

Logistics

Shyp raised $62M to let consumers photograph items and have them picked up, packaged, and shipped. The company discovered that the customers who most...

Defunct

Siemens Energy

Energy Technology

Siemens Energy is a global energy technology leader focusing on power generation, transmission, and storage solutions including gas turbines, wind tur...

dax40

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

Renewables

Siemens Gamesa installed 130 GW of wind capacity globally—enough to power 140 million homes—yet the business struggled with losses until parent Siemen...

Siemens Healthineers

Healthcare Technology

A €22.4 billion medical technology organism dominates through modular architecture, commanding 30% of the global imaging market across MRI, CT, and X-...

dax40

Signature Bank

Banking

Signature Bank's 2023 failure two days after SVB demonstrates how crypto exposure and contagion combine fatally. The bank had courted crypto customers...

Defunct

Sika

Specialty Chemicals for Construction

Sika converted a 1910 waterproofing additive into an $11B specialty chemicals empire through biological invasion patterns: systematic geographic colon...

smi

Silicon Graphics

Technology

Silicon Graphics' 2009 bankruptcy ended a pioneer in 3D graphics that had powered Hollywood visual effects. SGI workstations created Jurassic Park's d...

Defunct

Silicon Valley Bank

Banking

Silicon Valley Bank's March 2023 collapse was the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history and demonstrated how interest rate risk can kill a bank...

Defunct

Silvergate Bank

Banking

Silvergate Bank's March 2023 voluntary liquidation came after crypto-focused deposits fled following FTX's collapse. The bank had built itself as the...

Defunct

Singapore Airlines

Aviation

Singapore Airlines exemplifies 50 years of sustained phototropic discipline toward a single resource gradient: premium long-haul business travelers. C...

Sizzler USA

Restaurant

Sizzler USA's September 2020 bankruptcy collapsed the American operations of the steakhouse-buffet chain. The brand had already declined from 600+ U.S...

Defunct

SK Hynix

Semiconductors

SK Hynix is one of the world's leading memory semiconductor manufacturers, specializing in DRAM and NAND flash memory chips for computers, servers, mo...

kospi

Skybus Airlines

Aviation

Skybus Airlines' April 2008 closure came after only 12 months of operation. The ultra-low-cost carrier sold $10 tickets and charged for everything els...

Defunct

SLB (Schlumberger)

Oil & Gas Services

The $7.75 billion ChampionX acquisition closed July 2025, bolstering SLB's portfolio in production chemicals, artificial lift systems, and digital sol...

sp500

SoftBank Group Corp.

Technology & Telecommunications

SoftBank is a multinational conglomerate focused on technology investments, telecommunications, and internet services. The company operates the Vision...

nikkei225

Softcat

Technology

Softcat is a leading IT infrastructure and services provider in the UK. The company helps organizations procure, implement, and manage technology solu...

ftse250

Solectron Corporation

Manufacturing

Solectron's 2007 sale to Flextronics for $3.6 billion marked the end of the world's largest electronics manufacturing services company. Solectron had...

Defunct

Solyndra

Solar Manufacturing

Solyndra's 2011 bankruptcy became a political symbol of government investment failure, but the company's collapse was fundamentally a mechanism failur...

Defunct

Sony Ericsson / Sony Mobile

Technology

Sony Mobile's 2020 restructuring to niche positioning acknowledged failure in mass smartphone market. The Sony-Ericsson joint venture (2001-2012) and...

Defunct

Sony Ericsson Mobile

Consumer Electronics

Sony Ericsson's decline from premium phone maker to exit demonstrates how joint ventures can prevent adaptation. Neither Sony's media nor Ericsson's t...

Defunct

Souplantation / Sweet Tomatoes

Restaurant

Souplantation's May 2020 liquidation permanently closed all 97 locations. The buffet chain faced an existential problem: its entire business model - s...

Defunct

South African Airways

Airlines

South African Airways entered business rescue (South Africa's bankruptcy equivalent) in 2019 after years of losses, mismanagement, and corruption. The...

Defunct

South32

Mining & Resources

BHP's 2015 spinoff created a $8.1 billion organism specialized in commodities the parent deemed non-core: manganese, aluminum, silver, zinc, and coal....

asx

Southern California Edison (2001 Crisis)

Utilities

SCE's near-bankruptcy during California's 2001 energy crisis demonstrates how regulatory constraints can create fatal metabolic mismatch. Deregulation...

S&P 500

Southern Company

Electric Utilities

Southern Company operates regulated utilities with economies of scale in power generation. First-mover advantage in nuclear plant development and vert...

sp500

Southside Bancshares

Regional Banking

Bank holding company providing financial services through Southside Bank primarily in Texas. Offers commercial and consumer banking, mortgage lending,...

russell2000

Sports Authority

Retail - Sporting Goods

Sports Authority's 2016 liquidation ended America's largest sporting goods chain at a time when Americans were spending more on fitness than ever. The...

Defunct

Sports Illustrated (Mass Layoffs)

Media

Sports Illustrated's 2024 mass layoffs and licensing chaos demonstrates how private equity can destroy legacy media brands. The 70-year-old publicatio...

Defunct operations

Sprig

Food Delivery

Sprig's 2017 shutdown demonstrates how premium food delivery faces unit economics that don't scale. The healthy meal delivery startup couldn't achieve...

Defunct

Spring Health (Overvalued)

Healthcare

Spring Health raised $300M at a $2.5B valuation for mental health services, then faced questions about growth rates and customer retention as the ment...

Declining

Sprint Corporation

Telecommunications

Sprint's 2020 absorption by T-Mobile ended decades of third-place struggle in US wireless. The carrier that once led US long-distance couldn't compete...

Merged

SQLite

Software/Database

SQLite is a public-domain database engine embedded in billions of devices - smartphones (iOS and Android), web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), ope...

Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.

Gaming & Entertainment

Square Enix is a premier video game publisher formed from the merger of Square and Enix, creators of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises. Th...

nikkei225

SSE

Utilities

SSE is building energy infrastructure through ecological succession: transforming fossil-fuel-dominated grids into renewable-powered networks. The com...

ftse100

Stage Stores

Retail

Stage Stores' May 2020 bankruptcy collapsed 738 stores operating under names like Bealls, Goody's, Palais Royal, and Peebles, primarily in small-town...

Defunct

Standard Bank

Financial Services

Standard Bank Group demonstrates Kleiber's Law at institutional scale. The bank manages R3.4 trillion ($192 billion) in assets across 20 African count...

jsetop40

Standard Bank Group

Banking

Standard Bank functions as a keystone species in African financial ecosystems. Operating across 20 African countries with over 19 million clients and...

jse

Standard Chartered Bank

Banking / Financial Services

British bank formed in 1969 from merger of Standard Bank of British South Africa and Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China. Exemplifies strate...

ftse100

Stanford Financial Group

Financial Services

Stanford Financial's 2009 exposure as $7 billion Ponzi scheme demonstrates how offshore structures and regulator shopping enable large-scale fraud. Al...

Defunct

State Bank of India (SBI)

Banking

State Bank of India operates as the keystone species of Indian banking, its 22,000+ branch network forming a rhizome system that penetrates every econ...

nifty50, bse sensex

Statnett

Energy Transmission

Norway's transmission system operator managing the country's electrical grid and HVDC interconnectors to neighboring countries. Statnett operates the...

Steak 'n Ale

Restaurant

Steak 'n Ale's 2008 closure alongside sister chain Bennigan's demonstrates how restaurant concepts age out of relevance. The salad bar and casual stea...

Defunct

Steak 'n Shake

Restaurant

Steak 'n Shake's 2023 recapitalization came after years of operational collapse. Owner Sardar Biglari had implemented a disastrous counter-service con...

Defunct

Stein Mart

Off-Price Retail

Stein Mart's August 2020 bankruptcy ended 112 years of discount retail. The Jacksonville-based chain operated 281 stores targeting middle-aged women s...

Liquidated, Defunct

Steinhoff International

Retail

Steinhoff's 2017 implosion ranks among the largest accounting frauds in history - €10 billion in fabricated profits over a decade. The South African r...

Defunct

Stellar Bancorp

Regional Banking

Bank holding company providing commercial banking services to businesses and individuals primarily in Texas and nearby states. Offers lending, deposit...

russell2000

Stena Line

Transportation

Swedish ferry operator demonstrating remarkable phenotypic plasticity in customer service. During the 2018 Beast from the East storm that grounded fli...

Steve & Barry's

Retail - Apparel

Steve & Barry's 2008 bankruptcy ended an ultra-discount apparel chain that sold branded celebrity clothing for under $10. The company signed expensive...

Defunct

Steward Health Care

Healthcare - Hospitals

Steward Health Care's 2024 bankruptcy demonstrated how private equity ownership of healthcare can prioritize extraction over patient care until hospit...

Private

STMicroelectronics

Technology

STMicroelectronics is a European semiconductor manufacturer. The company designs and produces chips for automotive, industrial, and consumer electroni...

eurostoxx

Stock Yards Bancorp

Regional Banking

Bank holding company providing commercial and consumer banking services through Stock Yards Bank & Trust. Serves individuals and businesses in Kentuck...

russell2000

StoneCo

Payment Processing

Brazilian fintech company providing financial technology and software solutions to merchants and integrated partners. Offers payment processing, banki...

russell2000

Stora Enso

Forestry & Biomaterials

Stora Enso's 737-year continuous operation (founded 1288 as copper mine) represents one of history's longest corporate succession chains: copper minin...

Straumann Group

Dental Implants & Orthodontics

Straumann built a CHF 2.5 billion dental implant business (2024, 13.7% organic growth) on a biological phenomenon: titanium integrates with living bon...

smi

Stroh Brewery Company

Beverages

Stroh Brewery's 1999 sale to Pabst and Miller ended Detroit's brewing heritage after ambitious acquisition strategy failed. Stroh had bought Schlitz,...

Defunct

Studebaker

Automotive

Studebaker's 1966 closure ended 114 years of manufacturing that began with wagons before the Civil War. The company that helped build America's infras...

Defunct

Studio Movie Grill

Entertainment

Studio Movie Grill's October 2020 bankruptcy collapsed a dine-in cinema chain that had pioneered the premium theatrical experience. The company operat...

Defunct

Substack

Media

Substack enables writers to publish newsletters with paid subscriptions. Platform economics with network effects in independent media.

private

SuccessFactors

Enterprise Software/HR

SAP acquired SuccessFactors in 2012 for $3.4 billion and immediately announced the sunset of 40% of its on-premise product development. This was branc...

Sun Microsystems

Technology

Sun Microsystems' 2010 acquisition by Oracle for $7.4 billion ended the workstation pioneer that coined 'the network is the computer.' Sun had dominat...

Defunct

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries

Pharmaceuticals

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries operates as India's largest pharmaceutical organism and the world's fourth-largest specialty generic company, with a glo...

nifty50, bse sensex

Sunbeam Corporation

Consumer Appliances

Sunbeam's 2001 bankruptcy followed the exposure of 'Chainsaw Al' Dunlap's accounting fraud. The appliance maker had reported spectacular turnaround re...

Defunct

SunEdison

Clean Energy

SunEdison's 2016 bankruptcy was the largest in solar history - $16 billion in debt. The company invented the yieldco model: acquire solar projects, dr...

Defunct

Supreme

Fashion/Streetwear

American streetwear brand founded in 1994 that exemplifies runaway selection dynamics. Supreme's box logo - a simple red rectangle with white text - c...

Sur La Table

Retail

Sur La Table's July 2020 bankruptcy collapsed the upscale kitchenware retailer after COVID shuttered its cooking classes, which drove store traffic. T...

Defunct

Suzano

Paper & Pulp

Suzano built the world's largest single pulp production line in 2024—a 2.55 million tonne per year facility in Ribas do Rio Pardo—and revealed what ve...

bovespa

Suzuki Motor Corporation (US)

Automotive

Suzuki's 2012 U.S. bankruptcy ended the Japanese company's American automotive sales after decades of marginal presence. Suzuki never achieved scale i...

Defunct

Sweetgreen

Fast-casual Restaurant

Sweetgreen cracked what kills most restaurant chains: profitable unit economics without sacrificing speed. The company's Infinite Kitchen automation r...

russell2000

Swiggy (Bundl Technologies Pvt. Ltd.)

Food Delivery & Technology

Swiggy is one of India's largest food delivery platforms, competing with Zomato and offering quick commerce through Instamart. The company has revolut...

private

Swiss Life

Life Insurance & Pensions

Swiss Life transformed mortality uncertainty into a $255B asset management machine by arbitraging the gap between individual unpredictability and popu...

smi

Swiss Re

Reinsurance

Swiss Re's $40+ billion revenue (2024: $3.2B net income, 15% ROE) operates at a meta-level most companies never see - it's the reinsurer for insurers,...

smi

Swissair

Aviation

Swissair's 2001 bankruptcy shocked the world - Switzerland's flag carrier, once called the 'Flying Bank' for its financial solidity, ran out of cash i...

Defunct

Swisscom

Telecommunications

Swisscom's $13+ billion revenue (CHF 11B in 2024, projected CHF 15-15.2B for 2025) demonstrates how state ownership (51% Swiss Confederation) enables...

smi

Synopsys

Electronic Design Automation

Synopsys doesn't manufacture chips—it creates the software that makes chip design possible. The company holds 38% of the $15 billion electronic design...

nasdaq100