Big companies go bankrupt for plenty of reasons, and corporate bankruptcies happen on a regular basis. In the past few years, bankruptcies by well-established brands became commonplace as they struggled to compete with the rise of online giants. This mass bankruptcies of retailers became known as the “retail apocalypse.” These companies didn’t experience the huge bailouts several companies get, either.
Some of the companies that went bankrupt were able to come out of bankruptcy with a new strategy. Some, however, shuttered their doors and no longer exist. Read on to learn more about the different companies that went bankrupt, why, and whether or not they were able to emerge in one piece with data via The Fashion Law and CB Insights.
37. Wet Seal
Wet Seal sells trendy, low-cost clothes for young women. After a slew of financial troubles, the company announced that it would keep its stores open. However, in January 2015, it began closing stores, and shares fell to $0.06 per stock. That month, it went bankrupt. Wet Seal came out of going bankrupt, but it was all the worse for wear. The company Versa bought Wet Seal, but the company was unable to meet Versa’s private equity demands. Wet Seal went bankrupt again just two years later.
In January 2017, Wet Seal closed all of its stores and immediately terminated all of its workers. The troubled brand was one of many retail chains that fell in the retail apocalypse. Wet Seal went bankrupt again in February 2017. It cited having debts as much as 10 times higher than its assets. Gordon Brothers acquired the company in bankruptcy proceedings and relaunched it in October 2017 with online-only retailing.