Before Blackberry's flameout in the U.S., there was Nextel. Its walkie-talkie push technology lost relevance and eventually succumbed to the great smartphone revolution. But NII Holdings escaped obsolescence.
The international unit of Nextel, NII thrived in places like Brazil and Mexico. Or at least it did until recently. When Latin American consumers increasingly demanded smartphone features last year, NII began reliving its U.S. nightmare. The company lost more than $750 million and shares crashed by 67%.
Wal-Mart retook the top spot, Berkshire Hathaway made the top five, and Apple grew enormously.
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