Why Toys R Us Really Went Bankrupt

Toys R Us didn't run out of customers. It ran out of time on a debt of more than $5 billion, most of it from the 2005 buyout that put the price of buying the company onto the company itself. This is the story told from its own bankruptcy filing: the Amazon deal, the $400 million a year to lenders, the news story that made suppliers stop shipping, and the 33,000 workers who left without severance. Did you have a Toys R Us near you? Tell us the first toy you remember picking out there. Chapters: 0:00 Toys R Us: bought with debt and killed 1:07 The giraffe and the backwards R 2:17 The Amazon deal 3:12 The store that paid for its own sale 4:02 The $400 million habit 5:15 One news story 6:22 Game over 7:19 Who paid 8:41 What's left Sources: Bankruptcy filing, In re Toys "R" Us, Inc., No. 17-34665 (Bankr. E.D. Va.), Doc 20, CEO declaration: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/... Toys R Us Form 8-K, 2018-03-15: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... NBC News, 2018-03-15: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/cons... NBC News, 2018-03-22: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/... Toys R Us.com v. Amazon.com (N.J. Super. Ct. 2006): http://www.internetlibrary.com/cases/... AP via ABC News, 2009-06-13: https://abcnews.com/Technology/story?... CBS MoneyWatch, 2018-06-29: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remainin... Bain Capital / KKR, 2018-11-20: https://www.baincapital.com/news/kkr-... CNBC, 2018-11-20: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/20/bain-... CNBC, 2021-03-15: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/15/whp-g... Macy's, 2022-07-18: https://www.macysinc.com/newsroom/new... The $470 million fees-and-interest figure is a Bloomberg report quoted by a former store manager to CBS, not a court finding. "$600 per job" is our own arithmetic ($20M / 33,000). Photos (Wikimedia Commons, free licences): Geoffrey the Giraffe (1965).jpg, Toys “R” Us, Public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys 'R' Us store, Clay NY, Great Northern Mall (10744947815).jpg, Laura Northrup from Albany, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys R Us (13140771593).jpg, Mike Mozart from Funny YouTube, USA, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us store in Times Square.jpg, A.sostika, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us Store Closing 01.jpg, Talor Berthelson, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us Store Closing 02.jpg, Talor Berthelson, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us Store Closing 03.jpg, Talor Berthelson, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us Store Closing 05.jpg, Talor Berthelson, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys r us closing.jpg, 3steph14, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Closing Toys R Us in Kingstowne.jpg, Ser_Amantio_di_Nicolao, CC BY-SA 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys R Us Hialeah Florida Closing Sale (26581532387).jpg, Phillip Pessar from Miami, USA, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys R Us Modesto Closing.jpg, TaurusEmerald, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us, Auburn, MA 01.jpg, JJBers, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us, Auburn, MA 03.jpg, JJBers, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us store at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.jpg, Roc0ast3r, CC0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys R Us Livingston, NJ (49936906207).jpg, Mike Kalasnik from Jersey City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...