What Happened to Toys R Us? The $5.2 Billion Debt That Killed It

In March 2018 Toys R Us asked a court to liquidate its 735 US stores. This is the timeline behind it: the 1957 toys-only store, the 25% market share in 1990, Walmart passing it by the end of the 90s, the 2005 buyout by Bain Capital, KKR and Vornado that left about $5.2 billion of debt, the September 2017 Chapter 11 filing, the holiday that missed projections, and the death of founder Charles Lazarus as the stores prepared to close. Chapters 0:00 The last sale 0:32 The backward R 1:43 A quarter of the market 2:38 The buyout 3:28 Chapter eleven 4:59 The holiday that decided it 5:59 The last stores 6:41 What was left Sources Fortune, Toys R Us bankruptcy: why (Mar 9 2018) Fox Business, How $5B in debt caught up to the toy retailer (Sep 20 2017) IBJ, Toys R Us files for Chapter 11 (Sep 19 2017) Supply Chain Dive, How Toys R Us bankruptcy hopes came crashing down (Mar 15 2018) AP via Fox 4, Toys R Us founder Charles Lazarus dies (Mar 23 2018) AP via Fox 32, Goodbye Geoffrey: Toys R Us closes its last stores Chief Marketer, The real toy story (Apr 2000) Reference for Business, Toys R Us Inc. history Wikipedia, Toys R Us Archival ad and news clips are used briefly for commentary and criticism. Stills (Wikimedia Commons): "Toys r us closing.jpg" by 3steph14 (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Toys R Us Modesto Closing.jpg" by TaurusEmerald (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Toys R Us Hialeah Florida Closing Sale" by Phillip Pessar (CC BY 2.0); "Toys R Us, South Miami, FL.jpg" by Phillip Pessar (CC BY 2.0); "Toys R Us department in Macy's Center City Philadelphia.jpg" by Keizers (CC BY-SA 4.0). Full table with links: episodes/09-toys-r-us/assets.md.