Apple

By 1997, Apple was a joke. The company that launched the personal computer revolution with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had fired Jobs in 1985, then spent twelve years releasing a parade of forgettable products under a series of uninspired CEOs. The Newton. The Performa line. Copland. The stock hit a low of $3.19 (split-adjusted). Michael Dell, when asked what he'd do with Apple, said he'd 'shut it down and give the money back to shareholders.'

Apple was 90 days from bankruptcy when they bought NeXT for $429 million in December 1996, bringing Steve Jobs back. He killed 70% of the product line, secured a $150 million investment from Microsoft, and shipped the iMac in 1998. Then the iPod in 2001. Then the iPhone in 2007. Then the iPad in 2010.

The company that almost died in 1997 became the first company in history to reach a $1 trillion market cap in 2018, then $2 trillion, then $3 trillion. It is the most complete corporate resurrection ever executed, and it was almost entirely the work of one person who the company had fired twelve years earlier.