Big firms are filing for bankruptcy left and right — and it’s just the beginning – By Joe Ciolli (Business Insider) / May 15, 2023
- Vice Media headlined a group of seven major companies that filed for bankruptcy in a recent 48-hour period.
- The filings have laid bare just how exposed highly indebted firms are in the wake of interest-rate hikes.
- Data from Moody’s and S&P Global suggest the pain could just be getting underway, and could last all year.
Think back to a faraway time when Vice Media was a darling of the journalism landscape. It sported a hefty $6 billion valuation, had a high-profile documentary series on HBO, and web traffic soared largely thanks to a certain polarizing president who’d just taken office. The year was 2017.
Fast-forward to the present, when Vice — saddled with liabilities of up to $1 billion — has filed for bankruptcy.
It’s far from alone. Six other large companies threw in the towel within a recent 48-hour span, the most active such period for bankruptcies since 2008, according to Bloomberg data looking at companies with at least $5o million in liabilities.
