In memoriam
38 companies with in-depth writeups, 113 filings in the full tracker. Every entry is sourced.
PE-backed firms accounted for 56% of the largest U.S. bankruptcies ($500M+) in 2024, with at least 65,850 layoffs. Source: PE Stakeholder Project, 2024
In-depth writeups with sources and sponsor accountability. 38 cases.
1943 – 2025 · acquired 2011
Leonard Green's 2011 LBO loaded Joann with $1.6B in debt. Filed Chapter 11 in March 2024, emerged briefly, then filed again in January 2025. All 800+ stores liquidated. ~19,000 employees lost their jobs. Leonard Green had already extracted significant returns through dividends and fees before the collapse.
Owner at time of death: Leonard Green & Partners
2010 – 2024 · acquired 2010
Cerberus sold hospital real estate, extracted dividends, and loaded debt while hospitals deteriorated. Patients suffered from understaffing and equipment failures. Multiple states investigated. Filed bankruptcy May 2024 with 30,000+ employees affected.
Owner at time of death: Cerberus Capital
2002 – 2024 · acquired 2019
Great Hill bought 10+ publications for $18.9M (previously valued at $135M). Issued "stick to sports" mandate at Deadspin; editor fired, entire staff resigned. Jezebel shuttered. All properties sold off piecemeal.
Owner at time of death: Great Hill Partners
1996 – 2024 · acquired 2010
Leonard Green extracted over $400M through dividend recaps and management fees from Prospect Medical Holdings while hospital quality deteriorated. Multiple facilities have closed or face crisis 2023-2025. Subject of congressional investigation. Thousands of jobs and patient care affected.
Owner at time of death: Leonard Green & Partners
1953 – 2023 · acquired 2018
KKR acquired Envision for $9.4B in 2018, loading massive debt. The company became the poster child for PE surprise billing in healthcare. Filed Chapter 11 in May 2023. ~69,000 physicians and staff affected.
Owner at time of death: KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts)
1816 – 2020 · acquired 2007
Cerberus acquired Remington in 2007, loading debt onto America's oldest gun manufacturer. Filed bankruptcy in 2018 and again in 2020, ultimately broken up and sold in pieces. 200+ years of American manufacturing history ended. ~3,500 jobs lost.
Owner at time of death: Cerberus Capital
1935 – 2020 · acquired 2007
Sun Capital executed sale-leaseback on 160 properties, dumped $115M in pension obligations. Two bankruptcies. Eventually sold for just $2M — a fraction of the $337M Sun paid.
Owner at time of death: Sun Capital Partners
1983 – 2020
After years of PE ownership by AEA Investors and Forstmann Little, 24 Hour Fitness filed for Chapter 11 in 2020. Owners had extracted hundreds of millions through dividends while underinvesting in facilities.
1959 – 2020 · acquired 2017
Thomas H. Lee used sale-leaseback of Art Van's own properties to fund 70% of the $612.5M buyout. Loaded $254M in new debt. Aggressive expansion cannibalized existing locations. All 169 stores liquidated.
Owner at time of death: Thomas H. Lee Partners
1962 – 2019 · acquired 2005
Sun Capital executed the standard playbook: sale-leaseback, debt loading, fee extraction. All 360 stores across 26 states liquidated. 14,000 workers lost jobs.
Owner at time of death: Sun Capital Partners
1999 – 2019 · acquired 2009
Advent International's $380M acquisition failed to adapt to shifting teen fashion retail. All stores closed by May 2019.
Owner at time of death: Advent International
1956 – 2019
PE owners Golden Gate Capital and Blum Capital extracted dividends while loading Payless with debt, leading to two bankruptcies and the closure of nearly all stores. 16,000+ workers lost jobs.
1976 – 2019 · acquired 2010
Bain loaded $1.2B in debt. Annual interest went from $0.25M to $91M — exceeding operating profit by $38M. Filed bankruptcy 2017 and 2019. All 1,280 stores liquidated. 11,000+ workers lost jobs.
Owner at time of death: Bain Capital
1948 – 2018 · acquired 2005
KKR, Bain Capital, and Vornado's 2005 leveraged buyout loaded Toys "R" Us with $5.3B in debt. The company couldn't invest in stores or compete with Amazon, leading to liquidation in 2018.
Owner at time of death: Bain Capital
1948 – 2018 · acquired 2005
Bain Capital, KKR, and Vornado's $6.6B leveraged buyout loaded $5.2B in debt. Annual debt service of $400M starved the company of investment capital. 33,000 U.S. workers lost jobs when all 735 stores closed.
Owner at time of death: Bain Capital
1893 – 2018 · acquired 2005
Eddie Lampert's ESL Investments systematically sold off Craftsman, Lands' End, DieHard, and Kenmore brands while stripping real estate into a REIT. Over 250,000 jobs lost from peak employment.
Owner at time of death: ESL Investments
1925 – 2018 · acquired 2005
Lone Star Funds loaded debt onto the Southeastern Grocers chain (Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo, Harveys). Filed Chapter 11 in March 2018 with over $1 billion in debt. ~38,000 workers affected. Emerged diminished and eventually sold.
Owner at time of death: Lone Star Funds
1962 – 2018 · acquired 2007
Morgan Stanley PE acquired Tops for $310M in 2007, then extracted a $375M dividend recap in 2013 — more than the original purchase price — while loading the grocer with $800M in debt. Filed bankruptcy in 2018. ~14,000 workers affected.
Owner at time of death: Morgan Stanley Private Equity
1963 – 2017 · acquired 2007
Sun Capital made 1.8x return on its $50M investment through extracted dividends alone, then wrote equity to zero. All 250 stores closed. Bankruptcy trustee sued for $42M fraudulent transfer.
Owner at time of death: Sun Capital Partners
1987 – 2016 · acquired 2006
Leonard Green's leveraged buyout loaded massive debt preventing e-commerce and store modernization. All 463 stores closed by August 2016. 14,000 workers lost their jobs.
Owner at time of death: Leonard Green & Partners
1859 – 2015 · acquired 2007
Yucaipa loaded debt and failed to modernize one of America's oldest grocery chains (est. 1859). After two bankruptcies in 2010 and 2015, all remaining stores were liquidated. ~28,000 jobs lost.
Owner at time of death: Yucaipa Companies
1937 – 2015 · acquired 2008
Apollo and TPG loaded $25B in debt onto Caesars in one of the largest LBOs ever. They extracted hundreds of millions in fees and transferred valuable real estate to entities they controlled. Filed Chapter 11 in January 2015. Creditors accused PE firms of looting the company.
Owner at time of death: Apollo Global Management
1882 – 2014 · acquired 2007
KKR, TPG, and Goldman Sachs took TXU private in 2007 for $45 billion, the largest leveraged buyout in history. Loaded with crushing debt, Energy Future Holdings filed one of the largest bankruptcies in US history in 2014. Texas consumers bore higher electricity prices. KKR and TPG lost most of their $8.3B equity investment.
Owner at time of death: KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts)
1949 – 2008 · acquired 2004
Cerberus, Sun Capital, and Lubert-Adler split Mervyn's into real estate and retail entities, forcing the retailer to pay rent on properties it previously owned. Extracted $200M in fees and dividends. All 257 stores liquidated. PE firms later settled lawsuit for $166M.
Owner at time of death: Sun Capital Partners
2005 – 2025 · acquired 2012
After KarpReilly drove rapid expansion that diluted the artisanal brand identity, all Sprinkles locations permanently closed December 31, 2025. Employees received just one day notice and no severance.
Owner at time of death: KarpReilly
1970 – 2024 · acquired 2013
Apax Partners' acquisition left rue21 overleveraged. Three bankruptcies: 2017, 2020, and 2024. Went from 1,200 stores at peak to full liquidation.
Owner at time of death: Apax Partners
1968 – 2024 · acquired 2014
Golden Gate Capital sold Red Lobster's real estate and forced it to lease back at above-market rates. Customer count dropped 30%. The $20 "Endless Shrimp" promotion lost $11M. Filed Chapter 11 in 2024, closing 130+ locations.
Owner at time of death: Golden Gate Capital
2009 – 2023 · acquired 2017
Cornell Capital merged the wildly popular Instant Pot with Corelle Brands (Pyrex, CorningWare) and saddled the combined Instant Brands with ~$500M in debt. Despite Instant Pot being one of the best-selling kitchen products in Amazon history, the PE debt burden was unsustainable. Filed Chapter 11 in June 2023. The brand went from cultural phenomenon to bankruptcy in just a few years under PE ownership.
Owner at time of death: Cornell Capital
1950 – 2023
CD&R acquired David's Bridal in 2012 for $1.05B. Heavy LBO debt prevented investment. Filed bankruptcy in 2018, then again in April 2023. ~9,000+ workers affected as most stores eventually closed.
1983 – 2020
TPG and Leonard Green's 2011 leveraged buyout loaded J.Crew with $1.7B in debt. Unable to invest in the brand or adapt to e-commerce, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2020.
Owner at time of death: TPG Capital
1965 – 2020
The iconic Gold's Gym brand filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 after years of PE ownership loaded the company with debt it couldn't service through the pandemic.
1933 – 2020 · acquired 2007
Sterling Investment Partners pushed rapid expansion outside Fairway's core NYC base. Never reported a profitable quarter post-IPO. $250M debt load. Filed bankruptcy twice. Most stores sold off.
Owner at time of death: Sterling Investment Partners
1961 – 2018
Apollo loaded ~$2.5B in LBO debt onto a teen jewelry retailer that was otherwise profitable. Interest payments crushed the business. Filed Chapter 11 in March 2018. 17,000+ workers affected. Emerged diminished.
Owner at time of death: Apollo Global Management
1978 – 2018 · acquired 2014
Sycamore Partners acquired Jones Group for $2.2B in 2014, immediately transferred valuable brands to new entities while leaving $1.6B in debt on Nine West. The company sued Sycamore for fraudulent asset transfer before filing Chapter 11 in April 2018.
Owner at time of death: Sycamore Partners
1986 – 2018
After years of PE-driven rapid expansion (over-saturating markets with stores), Mattress Firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018, closing 700 locations.
1921 – 2017 · acquired 2015
Standard General acquired 1,743 stores for $26.2M out of first bankruptcy but failed to revive the brand. Second bankruptcy in 2017 eliminated all remaining physical stores and 7,500+ jobs.
Owner at time of death: Standard General
1962 – 2017 · acquired 2015
Filed first bankruptcy in 2015 closing 338 stores. Versa Capital acquired remaining 173 stores for $17.5M but could not revive the brand. Second bankruptcy in 2017 closed all remaining locations.
Owner at time of death: Versa Capital Management
1931 – 2017 · acquired 2006
Sun Capital acquired Marsh in 2006, loaded debt, and failed to invest in modernizing stores. The chain deteriorated steadily until all locations closed or were sold by 2017. ~3,400 jobs lost. Another Sun Capital retail casualty.
Owner at time of death: Sun Capital Partners
We curate detailed writeups for the most consequential cases (above). The tracker below reflects the broader universe. Most PE bankruptcies never make headlines.
Every PE-backed US bankruptcy we can source, 113 filings. Updated quarterly from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.
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