Short, sourced documentaries about the companies that ruled their world and then lost it. Nokia, Blockbuster, Kodak, Enron, Lehman Brothers, Pan Am and more, each told in a few minutes, with the lessons behind the fall.
Every episode on the channel, newest first. Filter by how they fell.
No file matches that yet. Suggest it below and we may open one.
One fact from the files, under a minute.
Every empire believes
it is the exception.
Different industries, different decades, the same few mistakes. Tap a pattern to see its files.
The moment each empire's story turned, in order.
Rise & Ruin is an independent channel. Every Empire File follows the same three rules, no exceptions.
Read our standards →Numbers and quotes come from published reporting and public records, listed in every video's description. When a story involves living people, we stick to what courts and filings say.
Filings · Court records · Published reportingNo filler. The rise, the turning point, the fall, told in minutes with archive photos, simple graphics and our narrator, Rex.
Rise → Turning point → FallEvery file ends with three lessons for founders, investors and anyone who works inside a big company.
Three lessons in every file
“The best business lessons are hidden in the companies that failed.”
I started Rise & Ruin to tell those stories properly: researched from published sources, fact-checked, and short enough to watch in minutes. Have a company we should open a file on? I read every suggestion.
The short answers.
Rise & Ruin is an independent channel founded by M J. Research, scripts, graphics and editing are done in house.
No. Our narrator, Rex, uses an AI-generated voice. Everything he says is written and fact-checked by us, and we label it on every video.
Published reporting, company filings, official reports and court records. Key sources are listed in each video's description.
Yes, please. Email us the company and what you think went wrong. Many of the best files start with a viewer's question.
Get in touch by email with where and how you would like to use it, and we will reply.
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