The directory map for the Northfield Square Mall in Bourbonnais, Ill., has three glaring spaces where large department stores once stood. Soon there will be a fourth vacancy, now that J.C. Penney is liquidating stores after filing for bankruptcy. With so much empty space and brick-and-mortar retail in the midst of seismic changes even before […]
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HOUSTON — Chesapeake Energy, a pioneer in extracting natural gas from shale rock across the country, filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, unable to overcome a mountain of debt that became unsustainable after a decade of stubbornly low gas prices. The company helped convert the United States from a natural gas importer into a major […]
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The coronavirus recession is pushing many companies into bankruptcy, a painful process that has led to layoffs, wiped out some investors and hurt the economy. But the chief executives of some of these businesses are doing just fine. Companies that are struggling to pay creditors and suppliers are managing to find millions of dollars to […]
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A federal judge on Friday is expected to approve Pacific Gas & Electric’s plan to exit bankruptcy, a crucial step in efforts to overhaul a utility whose equipment was involved in some of the worst wildfires to ravage California in recent years. If the judge confirms PG&E’s bankruptcy plan before the end of June, the […]
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A California judge ordered Pacific Gas & Electric on Thursday to pay a $3.5 million fine for causing the Camp Fire, the blaze that killed scores of people and destroyed the town of Paradise in 2018. Judge Michael R. Deems of Butte County Superior Court read the sentence after hearing statements from survivors of the […]
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Already, companies large and small are succumbing to the effects of the coronavirus. They include household names like Hertz and J. Crew and comparatively anonymous energy companies like Diamond Offshore Drilling and Whiting Petroleum. And the wave of bankruptcies is going to get bigger. Edward I. Altman, the creator of the Z score, a widely […]
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Marie Wehe, a grandmother, widow and cancer survivor, died in her truck on Nov. 8, 2018, while trying to escape the Camp Fire, an inferno that started when a transmission line broke from a nearly-100-year-old Pacific Gas & Electric Tower. She was one of scores killed in California’s most devastating wildfire. In a rare acknowledgment […]
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California’s most devastating wildfire started in 2018 when a transmission line broke from a nearly-100-year-old Pacific Gas & Electric tower, killing scores and destroying the town of Paradise. On Tuesday, the company is expected to plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in a rare acknowledgment of corporate wrongdoing. PG&E, which had repeatedly failed […]
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After all these years, Hertz is No. 1 again. Not in market share: The car-rental company is a distant second to Enterprise. But Hertz has become Exhibit #1 of the madness that has been sweeping the stock market in these times of Covid-19 — a madness that may do considerable harm, not because stock prices […]
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HOUSTON — Shares of Chesapeake Energy, a pioneer in extracting natural gas from shale rock that came to be known for an illegal scheme to suppress the price of oil and gas leases, went on a wild ride on Tuesday amid reports that it was preparing a bankruptcy filing. Trading was halted for more than […]
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California regulators on Thursday approved a plan that would allow the state’s biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, to emerge from the bankruptcy case it filed last year, clearing the last major hurdle the company faced. The California Public Utilities Commission, whose approval is needed when utilities’ bankruptcy reorganization plans will require ratepayer funds, voted […]
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ImageMount Ida College in Newton, Mass., in 2018, the year the college closed because of financial troubles. In the wake of the pandemic, many private colleges may share its fate.Credit…Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe, via Associated Press Will my college go bankrupt? It’s something many prospective college students want to know, as Nick Ducoff and […]
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Hertz, which started with a fleet of a dozen Ford Model T’s a century ago and became one of the world’s largest car rental companies, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday after falling victim to its mountain of debt. The coronavirus pandemic has devastated Hertz by grounding business travelers and tourists, making it impossible for […]
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The deal requires the power company to begin compensating, as early as August, those who lost homes, businesses and other property. About 70,000 wildfire victims filed claims. The vote helps clear one of the last major hurdles PG&E faces in restructuring its debts. The company is trying to resolve its bankruptcy by June 30 to […]
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J.C. Penney, the department store chain founded in 1902 that has more than 800 stores in the United States, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, the latest and largest retailer to fall during the coronavirus pandemic. Its collapse follows other retail bankruptcies this month, including J. Crew, the Neiman Marcus Group and the designer men’s […]
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J. Crew and Neiman Marcus were each facing a host of issues before the coronavirus pandemic forced them to close their stores and eventually file for bankruptcy, including trouble adjusting to the rise of e-commerce and a lack of connection with a new generation of shoppers. But they also shared one increasingly common problem for […]
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Neiman Marcus on Thursday became the first major department store group to file for bankruptcy protection during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a stunning fall that follows the collapse of Barneys New York late last year and comes as shadows gather over chains like Lord & Taylor and J.C. Penney. At the end of March the […]
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A great paradox of this pandemic is that while Covid-19 is overwhelming the health care system, health care spending is down a whopping 18 percent. This is because discretionary surgical procedures and the use of other health care services have plunged. Hospitals and doctors are suffering financially while Americans are suffering physically. But not all […]
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ImageMitch McConnell at the U.S. Capitol. He opposes federal bailouts of Democratic-leaning states with large public employee pension obligations. Credit…Patrick Semansky/Associated Press The United States economy is in free fall, with tens of millions of people unemployed and countless businesses at risk of collapse. Congress has already allocated nearly $3 trillion to contain the crisis, and […]
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J. Crew, the mass-market clothing company whose preppy-with-a-twist products were worn by Michelle Obama and appeared at New York Fashion Week, is expected to file for bankruptcy protection as soon as Monday. It would be the first major retailer to fall during the coronavirus pandemic, though other big industry names including Neiman Marcus and J.C. […]
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All the forecasts point in the same direction: A wave of small-business bankruptcies is coming. More than 40 percent of the nation’s 30 million small businesses could close permanently in the next six months because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a poll by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a crisis that will impact […]
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Gail Collins: Bret, do you listen to Andrew Cuomo’s daily pandemic press conferences? Bret Stephens: Unmissable. Gail: Originally, my favorite part was when he ripped into Donald Trump. But then he turned his righteous wrath on Mitch McConnell, and I must admit I’m loving that even more. Have you been following the fight? It peaked […]
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As negotiations over the next coronavirus relief package heat up, a key point of contention — perhaps the key point — is whether Congress will provide meaningful aid to struggling state and local governments. Boiling down the politics: Democratic lawmakers favor the move. Many Republicans, including the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, do not. Some […]
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Cities across the country are facing a red-ink cascade. On April 22, Mitch McConnell recommended that cities and states try bankruptcy if they’re struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. This is a terrible idea, and we don’t need to look farther than Detroit to see why. Although filing for bankruptcy enables a city to renegotiate debts […]
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Covid-19 has killed tens of thousands of Americans, and will clearly kill many more. The lockdown needed to contain the coronavirus is causing an economic slump several times as deep as the Great Recession. Yet this necessary slump doesn’t have to be accompanied by severe financial hardship. We have the resources to ensure that every […]
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The former commissioner of the XFL recently filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit in federal court against the football league’s controlling owner, Vince McMahon, three days after the short-lived sports venture filed for bankruptcy. The lawsuit, filed by Oliver Luck last Thursday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, contends that McMahon breached the terms of Luck’s contract […]
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American department stores, once all-powerful shopping meccas that anchored malls and Main Streets across the country, have been dealt blow after blow in the past decade. J.C. Penney and Sears were upended by hedge funds. Macy’s has been closing stores and cutting corporate staff. Barneys New York filed for bankruptcy last year. But nothing compares […]
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Among the financially unlucky right now, one question reigns supreme: Which bills can I simply not pay and for how long? A second is right behind it, and perhaps even more fraught: Who ought to give me my money back? Millions of people are wondering about refunds from airlines, concert venues and tuition-charging institutions that […]
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Four months ago, Pacific Gas & Electric seemed poised to emerge from bankruptcy after reaching a $13.5 billion settlement with tens of thousands of people who lost homes in wildfires started by the utility’s equipment. Investors cheered that agreement, bidding up the company’s share price by nearly 40 percent. But the deal now appears to […]
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You might not know Batsheva Hay, Christopher John Rogers and Carly Cushnie. They are emerging independent designers based in New York with relatively small namesake companies. But they have also been, over the last few years, labeled “names to watch.” They have won awards, dressed celebrities and been heralded at fashion week. In a few […]
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ImageThe Camp Fire burning along a ridge in Northern California in 2018.Credit…Noah Berger/Associated Press Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s largest utility, said Monday that it had agreed to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Camp Fire, the state’s deadliest wildfire. California regulators determined last year that PG&E’s equipment caused the fire, which […]
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