The Turnaround Podcast with Fexingo: Distressed Businesses, Restructuring, and Recovery

In Episode 82 of The Turnaround Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how Fender, the iconic 50-year-old guitar maker, nearly went bankrupt in the early 2010s and staged a remarkable comeback. They break down the specific business decisions—shifting from hardware to digital subscriptions, cutting retail partners, and targeting new players—that brought the company back from the brink. With the S&P 500 at...

Lucas and Luna examine the turnaround of a classic camera maker that faced near-extinction when smartphones killed the compact camera market. They trace how the company pivoted from mass-market point-and-shoots to high-end mirrorless systems, focusing on the specific decision to open its lens mount to third-party manufacturers—a gamble that rebuilt its ecosystem. Along the way, they discuss the br...

In Episode 80 of The Turnaround Podcast, Lucas and Luna examine how Pirelli, the 100-year-old Italian tire manufacturer, navigated the existential threat of the electric vehicle revolution. With EVs demanding different tire specifications—higher load ratings, lower rolling resistance, and reduced noise—Pirelli faced the risk of being disrupted by new entrants like Tesla's in-house tire development...

Episode 79 of The Turnaround Podcast explores how a 40-year-old memory chip manufacturer, Nanya Technology, navigated the brutal DRAM downturn of 2024-2025 and emerged leaner. Lucas and Luna break down Nanya's risky bet on a niche DDR3 market when giants like Samsung and SK Hynix abandoned it, and how the company's conservative capital structure — zero debt and a cash hoard of $1.2 billion — allow...

In an age of Uber delivery and on-demand apps, a 40-year-old bike messenger company in Chicago is still delivering legal documents and lab samples. Lucas and Luna explore how Messenger Co. survived the app disruption by leaning into regulated, last-mile logistics that competitors can't easily replicate. They discuss the company's pivot from people to packages, the data behind same-day delivery gro...

When the Amazon Kindle launched in 2007, the publishing industry panicked. Analysts predicted the death of print, and dozens of mid-sized publishers folded or were acquired. But one 70-year-old independent publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, not only survived but thrived. In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack how Norton bet against the e-book hype, held onto its backlist, and used a 'no DRM' philos...

Episode 76 of The Turnaround Podcast looks at Intuit—the 40-year-old company behind TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Mint. In the early 2010s, cloud-native competitors like Xero and FreshBooks were eating Intuit's desktop lunch. Lucas and Luna examine how Intuit pivoted from shrink-wrapped software to a cloud-first subscription model, cut its reliance on desktop revenue, and built a platform moat. They a...

Episode 75 of The Turnaround Podcast examines how one of the world's oldest toy companies, LEGO, nearly collapsed in the early 2000s before staging a remarkable comeback. Lucas and Luna walk through the specific missteps—over-diversification into theme parks and video games, a cluttered product line—and the disciplined turnaround led by CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp. They discuss the 'innovation tourna...

In this episode of The Turnaround Podcast, Lucas and Luna look at how a 92-year-old department store chain—think regional anchor like Belk or Dillard's—managed to survive the retail apocalypse that wiped out so many peers. They trace the specific moves: shedding real estate to reduce debt by 40 percent, investing in localised rather than cookie-cutter merchandising, and building a loyalty program...

In the 1970s, the quartz watch threatened to wipe out the entire Swiss watch industry. This episode of The Turnaround Podcast with Fexingo digs into how one company, Audemars Piguet, bet everything on a luxury steel sports watch—the Royal Oak—and survived not just the quartz crisis, but decades of industry upheaval. Lucas and Luna walk through the near-death moment, the numbers behind the gamble,...

In this episode of The Turnaround Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how a 30-year-old synthesizer company navigated the software revolution that decimated hardware music gear. They focus on the specific case of a company that shifted from analog synths to a hybrid hardware-software model, surviving when competitors like Roland struggled. The hosts discuss the company's 2015 near-bankruptcy, its pivo...

Episode 71 of The Turnaround Podcast looks at the near-death experience of Oura Health, the Finnish company behind the Oura Ring. Founded in 2013, Oura rode the early hype of quantified-self wearables, then nearly collapsed when consumer interest shifted to smartwatches. By 2022, the company was burning cash and facing a 40 percent revenue drop. Lucas and Luna trace how a pivot to sleep science, a...

When lithium-ion batteries upended power tools, decades-old manufacturers faced extinction. In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how one 50-year-old tool company navigated the shift from corded to cordless, focusing on its pivot to brushless motors and battery platform lock-in. They discuss the specific engineering investments, the near-death moment when margins collapsed, and why the company's...

Episode 69 of The Turnaround Podcast examines how Iridium Communications, the satellite phone company that spent $5 billion building a 66-satellite constellation, filed for bankruptcy in 1999, and came back to become a profitable niche player. Lucas and Luna trace the company's near-death experience, its unexpected rescue by the U.S. Department of Defense, and how it leveraged IoT and aviation tra...

In this episode of The Turnaround Podcast, Lucas and Luna examine how a 68-year-old ski resort in the Pacific Northwest survived decades of declining snowfall and a near-death experience in 2015. They dive into the resort's shift from a seasonal winter business to a year-round destination, the $34 million investment in snowmaking technology, and the diversification into mountain biking and music f...

In this episode of The Turnaround Podcast, Lucas and Luna look at how a classic synthesizer brand, Sequential, survived the shift from hardware to software. After nearly going under in the 1990s, Sequential was revived by founder Dave Smith, who bet on analog circuits at a time when everyone wanted digital. The hosts explore the 2015 Prophet-6 launch, the role of the Eurorack modular community, an...

In this episode of The Turnaround Podcast, Lucas and Luna examine how a mid-sized office supply company, Staples, navigated the collapse of the traditional workplace. With the S&P 500 at 7,501 and real GDP growth at a sluggish 1.6%, the show explores the company's shift from retail aisles to B2B services, its acquisition by Sycamore Partners in 2017, and the strategic pivot that kept it alive as r...

In 1996, Porsche was on the brink of collapse with just 14,000 cars sold per year and a debt pile that threatened to sink the company. This episode of The Turnaround Podcast tells the story of how a small family-owned sports car maker reinvented itself by breaking its own rules: launching an SUV (the Cayenne), a sedan (the Panamera), and embracing lean manufacturing from Toyota. Lucas and Luna wal...

Episode 64 of The Turnaround Podcast examines the unraveling of the U.S. budget airline model. With the recent headline that 'the budget airline model in the U.S. is running out of runway,' Lucas and Luna dive into the specific case of Spirit Airlines — the poster child for ultra-low-cost air travel. They trace how Spirit's model of unbundling everything, from carry-on bags to water, worked for de...

Nintendo has been declared dead so many times it's a running joke. In this episode, Lucas and Luna look at the company's most recent existential moment: the failure of the Wii U in 2012-2013, when it sold just 13.5 million units and Nintendo lost over $400 million in a single fiscal year. They trace how a 136-year-old Kyoto playing-card company bet everything on a hybrid console concept that nobod...

Lucas and Luna examine how Berry Bros. & Rudd, a British wine merchant founded in 1698, survived the direct-to-consumer wine boom that crushed many traditional retailers. They unpack the company's pivot to private membership, its use of proprietary data to personalize offerings, and why its 300-year-old brand equity became a moat. With the S&P 500 at 7,501 and real GDP growth at 1.6 percent, they...

Paper clips, binder clips, and the humble notepad — how did a 50-year-old office supply company avoid extinction when Amazon and Staples dominated the market? In episode 61 of The Turnaround Podcast, Lucas and Luna dig into the turnaround of a company you've probably never heard of: Essendant, the wholesale distributor that nearly went under in 2018 after losing its biggest customer. They walk thr...

This episode of The Turnaround Podcast examines how Gatorade, founded in 1965 at the University of Florida, survived the existential threat posed by a wave of wellness-focused competitors like BodyArmor, Prime, and electrolyte waters that captured younger consumers. Lucas and Luna walk through Gatorade's near-death moment in the early 2020s when its market share slipped below 60% for the first tim...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the unlikely comeback of a 70-year-old typewriter company that nearly went under during the laptop boom of the 2000s. By focusing on a niche market of writers, collectors, and hipsters, the company repositioned itself as a luxury mechanical keyboard brand, with a $1,500 flagship product. They discuss the economics of retro manufacturing, the role of supply c...

In this episode of The Turnaround Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how a 95-year-old film and camera distributor transformed into a thriving niche retailer by betting on analog photography and community. They discuss the company's pivot from wholesale distribution to direct-to-consumer sales, the resurgence of film photography, and how a 70% revenue drop in 2013 led to a successful restructuring. A...