I wonder how much of that is some sort of reversion to the mean though. I.e. you often don't build a showcase palace headquarters until you've clearly been a great success. Not always of course. Executive ego can't be discounted in some cases.

However, to the degree a showcase gets built when a company is riding high and growing, it's not unusual that looking out 5 or 10 years, that company won't be doing so well.