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What's with all the retail store closings?

Dec 16, 2024
Closures and bankruptcy filings have ticked up this year despite relatively steady consumer spending.
The Container Store is preparing to file for bankruptcy, making it one of nearly 50 U.S. retailers to do so this year.
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

A brief history of airline bankruptcies

Nov 21, 2024
Spirit Airlines is in good company. While some airlines have recovered, others have shuttered or merged with other carriers.
Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, joining many other airlines that have done the same over the years.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

All you can eat: The tumultuous history of America’s favorite restaurant deal

Jun 14, 2024
Endless shrimp, endless breadsticks, endless salad bar — they've nearly killed a lot of restaurants. So why do they keep coming back?
Red Lobster has shuttered more than 80 locations and laid off hundreds of workers, but all-you-can-eat shrimp? Still going.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The case for reining in the perks of corporate bankruptcy

Melissa Jacoby's new book argues that Chapter 11 has become a catch-all for corporations to get out of troubles beyond their debts.
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As Red Lobster files for bankruptcy, changing tastes take a toll on its casual-dining competitors

May 20, 2024
The sector hasn't really recovered from the pandemic closures of their dining rooms, when "they lost their core business model."
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Women pay more than men for health care. That's leading some of them to declare bankruptcy.

Apr 8, 2024
Even when pregnancy-related costs are stripped out, women still pay more than men.
Female employees spend about $266 a year more out-of-pocket for health care than their male colleagues, a Deloitte study finds.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

WeWork could declare bankruptcy anytime, but how is it still around?

Nov 1, 2023
The company has risen and fallen on its stylish co-working spaces, larger-than-life founder and ability to rake in — and spend — investors' cash.
WeWork’s business model has always been shaky, says professor Erik Gordon at the University of Michigan.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Rite Aid's bankruptcy reflects how much the corner drugstore has changed

Oct 16, 2023
Corporate mergers and competition from supermarkets, discount clubs and online startups — among other forces — have altered how pharmacies need to do business.
The pharmacy business has seen lots of change in the last few decades.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

What do rising corporate bankruptcies say about the economy?

Sep 8, 2023
Some bankruptcies reflect fallout from the financial crisis more than a decade ago.
Corporate bankruptcies have been on the rise for more than a year. Retail chain Christmas Tree Shops, above, filed for bankruptcy in May.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Some Republicans are exploring a new position on student loan debt

Jul 31, 2023
The proposal bucks the party's usual laissez-faire approach.
To have your student loan debt discharged by a judge, one must prove it’s causing them “undue hardship."
Eros Hoagland/Getty Images