Bloomberg Businessweek has a story about the rise and demise of Toys R Us, chronicling how it pioneered the “category killer” strategy but eventually became a victim of market forces and its own labyrinthine history and financial structure.
Toys R Us, the story says, was “killed by bigger and more powerful rivals, with the inevitable ending hastened by the cold logic of its private equity owners and bankers. But it goes deeper than that. As the company’s advisers liquidate its 735 U.S. stores, make deals for the operations around the world, and determine the value of its intellectual property, it’s become clear that Toys “R” Us didn’t only have an improvident amount of debt—it also had a debt structure as complex and precarious as a Jenga tower, which obscured the company’s tenuous finances.”
Gravity, Bloomberg Businessweek writes, “always wins in the end.”
Terrific piece, and you can read it here.
Toys R Us, the story says, was “killed by bigger and more powerful rivals, with the inevitable ending hastened by the cold logic of its private equity owners and bankers. But it goes deeper than that. As the company’s advisers liquidate its 735 U.S. stores, make deals for the operations around the world, and determine the value of its intellectual property, it’s become clear that Toys “R” Us didn’t only have an improvident amount of debt—it also had a debt structure as complex and precarious as a Jenga tower, which obscured the company’s tenuous finances.”
Gravity, Bloomberg Businessweek writes, “always wins in the end.”
Terrific piece, and you can read it here.
- KC's View:
