• 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    174
    ·
    1 month ago

    This is an older story. The narrative that it failed because it was too good is false. It was a private equity leveraged buyout that doomed it. The company got saddled with like 8x debt with a lot of that money going to dividends for the PE firm.

    The product and the brand were strong enough that they’ve been sold to a different firm in the bankruptcy. If they are competently managed they should be fine.

    • GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      49
      ·
      1 month ago

      The lede is buried at the end.

      The problem is how the debts got there in the first place—in pursuit of growth for its own sake, of increased output with no clear needs that the new output would address.

    • golli@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      ·
      1 month ago

      What i still don’t quite understand with these kind of buyouts is who lends them the money and who gets saddled with the debt? Surely banks know the drill and wouldn’t want to borrow and hold debt for a company destined to fail in such a way.

      Do banks get repaid before that happens and the only people being owed are small contractors and employees? Does the bank repackage the debt and sell it to someone else? Or are the interest payments high enough to just factor in losing part of the money borrowed with high certainty?