The Most Stunning Comebacks of 2025: After Jail Time, Bankruptcy, and Disappearance, They're Back on Top
Image source: Illustration by Max-o-Matic for Forbes
In 2025, the "downfall" and "comeback" of global celebrities played out simultaneously: some recovered overnight thanks to a presidential pardon, some earned $400 million from a sold-out tour, and some bought back their bankrupt companies and relaunched them on the stock market. From CZ of Binance and Dylan Fields of Figma to the Gallagher brothers of Oasis and Chen Tianshi of Cambricon, this list records several tough characters who hit rock bottom and then fought their way back to the top – see how they turned scandals, losses, and bans into springboards and completed the most spectacular career reversals of the year riding on the waves of the times.
The collapse of a career can be swift and brutal, but the plot of a comeback can also be equally powerful. This time, we are once again presenting the most anticipated annual career comeback list. Through the experiences of those on the list who have returned to the executive office or the center of the spotlight, we aim to show people the various paths for business leaders and public figures to achieve career redemption.
Not all comeback attempts are successful. Take Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York, as an example. He previously tried to restart his political career by running for mayor of New York City but failed. In 2021, Cuomo resigned due to multiple sexual misconduct allegations and largely faded from the public eye for the next four years until he announced his mayoral candidacy. However, he not only lost to Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary but also lost by a 9.5 percentage point margin in the general election.
Some people are also making small and cautious attempts to turn things around.
Billy Evans, the partner of Elizabeth Holmes, is reported to have raised millions of dollars for a medical testing artificial intelligence startup. The company has not officially launched yet, and its business model is strikingly similar to Theranos, the blood testing company Holmes founded back then. Currently, Holmes is still serving an 11-year prison sentence in a federal prison for defrauding investors in her blood testing startup project.
Some people treat "returning to China next week" as a long roadshow. Jia Yueting appointed himself Co-CEO of FF on the verge of its delisting. Burdened with billions of dollars in debts and a travel ban, he sent the new model FX Super One to make consecutive appearances in Los Angeles and Dubai. In his seventh year in the United States, he announced the establishment of a second debt repayment trust, vowing to pay off the debts, build the cars, and get himself back on the NASDAQ with the "EAI + Crypto" dual flywheels – as for the flight back to China, it's still to be determined.
However, this year's list focuses on those who have successfully started a new chapter in their comebacks. The following individuals on the list have turned the tables this year and brought their careers and companies back to the peak.
01
Changpeng Zhao, Founder of Binance
Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, has regained the recognition of Donald Trump and the cryptocurrency industry. After serving his federal prison sentence and receiving a presidential pardon, known as "CZ", he has returned to the cryptocurrency investment field. Image source: Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images
In October, Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance and a billionaire (known as "CZ" in the industry), received a pardon from Donald Trump. In 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and violating sanctions regulations, resigned as the CEO of Binance, paid a $4.3 billion fine, and served four months in a federal prison. Due to this series of events, he was included in Forbes' 2023 Career Waterloo list.
Now, Zhao has returned to the public eye and is active in the cryptocurrency industry, conducting investment business through YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs). At the beginning of this year, the value of YZi's investment portfolio reached $10 billion. Although Trump claimed not to know Zhao, Zhao has indeed provided important support for his cryptocurrency projects: in May, Binance launched the stablecoin USD1 issued by the Trump family's cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial. Subsequently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped its lawsuit against Binance.
02
Xiao Hong, Founder of Manus
From the industry frenzy triggered by the "world's first general Agent" to facing doubts such as "rebranding" and "uncontrollability", and then announcing its withdrawal from the Chinese market in July this year, Xiao Hong and the Manus he founded once showed a trajectory of "starting strong and ending weak". However, the reversal came so quickly – on December 30th, the company announced that it would be acquired by the internet giant Meta.
As early as April this year, Manus completed a $75 million financing at a valuation of $500 million. This time, Meta's acquisition amount is expected to exceed $2 billion, which not only sets a new record for the speed of a domestic AI team being acquired by a giant from its establishment but also becomes Meta's third-largest acquisition case in terms of transaction size. After the acquisition is completed, founder Xiao Hong will serve as the vice president of Meta.
03
Li Min, Founder of Rockchip
2025 is also an important "comeback" year for Li Min, the founder of Rockchip. His personal wealth has increased from $1.4 billion in 2024 to $4 billion now (according to the 2025 Forbes Global Billionaires List).
18 months ago, this domestic SoC giant he founded had high inventories and its market value shrank by 60% during the consumer electronics downturn. The market originally expected Rockchip to follow in the footsteps of many mid - and low - end chip manufacturers, but the situation took a turn for the better in the last 12 months: the flagship product, the RK3588 series, uses an 8nm process, integrates a quad - core Cortex - A76 and a quad - core Cortex - A55 processor, and has an NPU computing power of up to 6 TOPS. It has been adopted by multiple humanoid robot manufacturers product by product. At the same time, the newly launched RK182X series of edge - side computing power co - processors further improve the industrial AI computing power layout, driving the company's net profit attributable to the parent company in the first three quarters of 2025 to increase by 137.51% year - on - year, with revenues exceeding 3 billion yuan.
04
Chen Tianshi, Founder of Cambricon
Since its listing on the STAR Market in 2020 with the halo of "the first AI chip stock", Cambricon has been caught in a double squeeze of continuous losses and customer churn. Its market value once evaporated by 70%, and the public opinion almost labeled it as "fabricating chips on PPT". Facing the overwhelming advantage of NVIDIA and Huawei's switch to its self - developed Ascend chips, the Siyuan series of chips that Chen Tianshi bet on finally achieved success this year. In the first three quarters of 2025, the company achieved an operating income of 4.607 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 2386.38%. Chen Tianshi's personal wealth has also soared this year, reaching $23.6 billion. On the last day of this year's Forbes Real - Time Global Billionaires List, Chen Tianshi made it into the top 100 richest people on earth, ranking 99th.
05
Charles Ergen, CEO of Echostar
New York, USA: EchoStar Acquires Hughes Electronics. On October 29, 2001, local time, in New York, USA, Charles Ergen, the CEO of EchoStar, held a joint press conference to announce that General Motors had agreed to sell its Hughes Electronics subsidiary and its direct - broadcast satellite television network to EchoStar for $25.8 billion. Image source: Visual China
Charles Ergen, a telecommunications industry billionaire, sold EchoStar's spectrum licenses to AT&T at the right time, regaining the trust of investors. His net worth has more than tripled this year, reaching $14 billion. Previously, EchoStar was in a very difficult situation: the company was under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for failing to complete the 5G network construction task assigned by the agency six years ago. In May this year, the company seemed to be in arrears on its loans and was on the verge of bankruptcy. The turning point came in June – Ergen, who had been serving as the chairman since stepping down as CEO in 2017, met with Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, and the situation began to improve. The FCC no longer required the company to proceed with 5G network construction but instead promoted the sale of its relevant network assets. After a $23 billion asset sale deal was reached, Ergen successfully turned things around. In November, he resumed his position as the CEO of the company and reached a cooperation agreement with SpaceX to provide technical support for its "Starlink" direct - to - phone service.
06
Dylan Fields, Co - founder and CEO of Figma
Image source: Gabriela Hasbun for Forbes
Since Adobe proposed to acquire the design software startup Figma for $20 billion, the latter has been shrouded in uncertainty and antitrust scrutiny for years. Now, its co - founder and CEO, Dylan Fields, has finally proven himself on Wall Street. When Adobe first made the acquisition offer in 2022, Fields was on the verge of joining the ranks of billionaires. However, investors were worried that the acquisition price was too high for Figma, which had an annual revenue of only $400 million at that time, and antitrust regulators were concerned that the acquisition would stifle market competition. In December 2023, the acquisition deal officially fell through. Fields proposed that if employees chose to leave, the company would offer them stock buybacks and three months' severance pay.
But in July 2025, he silenced the doubters with real results – Figma successfully completed its initial public offering (IPO), raising $1.2 billion. The day after its listing, its stock price soared to $143. Fields' net worth reached $6 billion at the time of the listing and has now dropped back to $2 billion.
07
Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher, Members of Oasis
Oasis' "Live '25" Global Tour Sydney Stop. On November 7, 2025, local time, in Sydney, Australia, Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher, the members of the British band Oasis, performed on stage together during the "Live '25" global tour. Image source: Visual China
This summer, these two long - feuding Oasis band members, the Gallagher brothers, took the stage together again after a 15 - year hiatus to kick off the "Live 25" tour. The tour was a huge success, with tickets for shows in the UK, Ireland, and North America selling out within an hour. According to Pollstar, a concert industry media outlet, Oasis' tour box office revenue exceeded $405 million, ranking second in the annual box office, only after Beyoncé's tour. In 2009, the two brothers had a fierce conflict backstage at a Paris concert, and the band subsequently disbanded. This reunion tour not only skyrocketed the band's popularity but also brought their related works back to the top of various music charts.
In the first month of the tour, the band's monthly listener count on the music platform Spotify increased by 31% to 31.5 million; by the end of the year, the monthly listener count stabilized at 30.3 million. Among the 16 million new listeners this year, Generation Z accounted for as much as 50%. When the tour started in July, the band's compilation album "Time Flies… 1994 - 2009" also returned to the top of the UK album chart. The band's comeback might be playing on nostalgia, and Liam has clearly stated in December that there are no plans to extend the tour in 2026.
08
Anne Wojcicki, Co - founder and CEO of 23andMe
It has been a roller - coaster year for the co - founder and CEO of the genetic testing company 23andMe. The company was deeply involved in customer data protection disputes, then filed for bankruptcy, and she was forced to step down as CEO. But in the end, her non - profit organization successfully bid to acquire the company, and by June, she was back at the helm. Image source: Getty Images
2025 has been a turbulent year for Anne Wojcicki, the co - founder of 23andMe. The genetic testing company she founded was once valued at $6 billion, but due to years of poor financial performance and a major data breach, it filed for bankruptcy in March this year. Wojcicki stepped down as CEO, and the company launched a controversial buyer recruitment process. (Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in New York was once the winning bidder and planned to acquire 23andMe and the genetic data of its millions of users, but this move raised strong concerns among consumers and multiple states, and the acquisition was ultimately called off.) Subsequently, Wojcicki offered a $305 million acquisition price through her non - profit organization, TTAM Research Institute (higher than Regeneron's offer), and finally obtained the approval of the bankruptcy court to complete the acquisition of the company in June.
"When you choose to take the road less traveled, it's inevitable to face doubts and criticism," Wojcicki said in an interview with Forbes in 2019.