The Atlantic
In its court filing, the company laid the blame at the feet of Amazon, Walmart, and Target, saying it “could not compete” when they priced toys so low. Less attention was paid to the albatross that private-equity firms Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and real-estate firm Vornado Realty Trust placed around the company’s neck. Toys “R” Us had a debt load of $1.86 billion before it was bought out. Immediately after the deal, it shouldered more than $5 billion in debt and, saddled with its new debt, however, the company had less flexibility to innovate. “Had these companies remained publicly owned,” Thomas Paulson, founder of the investment firm Inflection Capital Management, said, “they would have had a much higher probability of being able to adapt, to invest, and to withstand” the ups and downs of the economy.