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32 companies
Visa Inc.
Payment Networks / Financial Services
Visa isn't the biggest company in global commerce - it's the mechanism that makes global commerce work. Processing $14 trillion annually across 200+ b...
Volkswagen
Automotive
Volkswagen's Dieselgate scandal - 11 million vehicles with emissions-cheating software, $33 billion in fines - wasn't a technical failure. It was the...
Volocopter
Aerospace / Urban Air Mobility
German electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) developer that filed for insolvency in December 2024, becoming the second German flying taxi star...
Vale
Mining
Vale is a Brazilian multinational mining corporation and joint venture partner with BHP in the Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil. The company is mention...
Veolia Environnement
Environmental Services
Veolia Environnement is a French multinational operating water, waste, and energy services globally. With revenues of €44.7 billion (2024), the compan...
Valeant Pharmaceuticals (Crisis)
Pharmaceuticals
Valeant's 2015 crisis from drug price gouging and distribution fraud demonstrates how financial engineering in pharma creates fragile structures. The...
Valero Energy
Refining
Fifteen refineries spanning the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom process 3.2 million barrels per day—metabolic throughput second only to Mara...
Valve Corporation
Gaming
Valve operates Steam gaming platform with first-mover advantage in digital distribution. Platform economics with 120+ million active users.
Vanguard
Financial Services/Asset Management
The investment firm that built $9 trillion on a signal impossible to fake: we literally cannot cheat you. Founded in 1975 by John Bogle, Vanguard ope...
VAT Group
Vacuum Valves for Semiconductors
VAT Group occupies a keystone position in semiconductor manufacturing: vacuum valves controlling ultra-high vacuum environments where chips are made....
VDL Group
Precision Manufacturing
Netherlands-based company that manufactures precision mechanical modules for ASML's lithography systems. Part of ASML's mutualistic supplier ecosystem...
Venmo
Mobile Payments
Venmo processed $325 billion in payment volume across 90 million active users in 2024, but those numbers obscure the mechanism that made growth possib...
VeriSign
Internet Infrastructure
VeriSign operates .com and .net domain registry with monopoly position. Extreme first-mover advantage with network effects from established standards.
Verizon
Telecommunications
Verizon delivered 306,000 broadband net additions in Q3 2025, with 261,000 coming from fixed wireless access (FWA) and 61,000 from Fios fiber—the best...
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceutical company specializing in rare diseases, especially cystic fibrosis. Limits executive hiring from oncology-focused pharma (Genentech, Bri...
Vertu
Consumer Electronics/Mobile
British luxury mobile phone manufacturer (2002-2017) that exemplifies failed intersexual choice - courting preferences customers didn't actually have....
Vestas Wind Systems
Renewables
In 2012, Vestas made a bet that would reshape wind energy economics: modular platforms. The Danish manufacturer—now holding 30% market share outside C...
Vice Media (Bankruptcy)
Digital Media
Vice Media's 2023 bankruptcy from $5.7 billion valuation demonstrates how media organizations can grow faster than sustainable business models. The 'v...
Vinci
Construction
Vinci generated €71.6 billion revenue in 2024 with €6.8 billion free cash flow, operating through a concession model where the company finances, build...
Vine
Social Media
Vine's October 2016 shutdown by Twitter ended the 6-second video platform that created a new content format and generation of creators. Twitter had ac...
Virgin Australia
Airlines
Virgin Australia's 2020 bankruptcy forced the airline into administration during COVID-19. The carrier had been struggling before the pandemic, caught...
Virgin Australia (2020)
Aviation
Virgin Australia's April 2020 bankruptcy made it the largest Australian corporate collapse by revenue, owing $6.8 billion to creditors. The airline ha...
Virgin Megastores
Retail
Virgin Megastores' 2009 U.S. closure ended Richard Branson's attempt to build experiential music retail. The stores offered not just CDs but listening...
Virgin Orbit
Aerospace
Virgin Orbit's 2023 bankruptcy ended Richard Branson's attempt to compete in the small satellite launch market. The company had developed an air-launc...
Vivendi
Media & Entertainment
Vivendi executed a corporate fission on December 13, 2024, spinning off Canal+ (pay TV), Louis Hachette Group (publishing), and Havas (advertising) as...
Vodacom
Telecommunications
Vodacom serves 211.3 million mobile subscribers and 87.7 million financial services customers—but these numbers understate the mutualistic architectur...
Vodafone
Telecommunications
Vodafone completed its £16.5 billion merger with Three UK on May 31, 2025, creating VodafoneThree with 27 million customers—the UK's largest mobile op...
Volkswagen (Dieselgate)
Automotive
Volkswagen's 2015 emissions scandal revealed 11 million vehicles had software designed to cheat emissions tests. The 'clean diesel' that seemed to out...
Volkswagen Group
Automotive Manufacturing
Multinational automotive conglomerate with 12 brands including VW, Audi, Porsche, and Bentley, executing massive electrification strategy across its p...
Volvo
Commercial Vehicles & Equipment
Volvo Group's 2024 results—SEK 526.8 billion revenue with 12.5% adjusted operating margin and SEK 85.9 billion net cash—fund a phase transition most i...
Vonovia
Real Estate
Sessile organisms can't hunt for resources—they must defend territory and extract maximum value from fixed locations. Vonovia owns 565,000 apartments...
Voyager Digital
Cryptocurrency Brokerage
Voyager Digital's July 2022 bankruptcy was triggered by the collapse of Three Arrows Capital, a crypto hedge fund that owed Voyager $650 million. When...