I'd say that, especially in a large corporation, if you're a company veteran, with X years of knowledge of the internals, systems, business cases, managers etc., then you're really worth a lot more than a random guy from the street, even he matches your CV in terms of generic experience. A smart company would be more than happy to take you back after your sabbatical.

In other words, in large organizations, organizational complexity can be the main challenge, while tech challenges are really secondary. I see that in a large bank every day.

I've seen the sabbatical option working out for some people, but in my case it won't because a number of reasons, including the fact I haven't been there long enough.