Adventures in Toyland

I tweeted Gretchen Morgenson’s latest WSJ story about the death of Toys ‘R’ Us this morning and it provoked a huge reaction. I think it’s a combination of people’s instinctual anger about the billionaire-dominated economy as well as some nostalgia for the place we all were taken as kids, and some of our sweetest memories of childhood being wrapped up in the thing.

Private Equity firms loaded Toys ‘R’ Us up with debt in 2005.

12 years later, a group of hedge funds decides liquidation is more profitable than restructuring.

Employees will receive zero severance

Bankers and lawyers get hundreds of millions in fees

https://t.co/D0ihL8nulP

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) August 24, 2018

But there’s a lot going on here so I think everyone should read the article and come up with their own takeaways from it.

Read it here…

Who Killed Toys ‘R’ Us? Hint: It Wasn’t Only Amazon (Wall Street Journal)