Ever since the struggling Toys ‘R’ Us filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2017, the company has been in talks to restructure their USD$6.6 billion (RM27.6 billion) debt. Over the recent months, discussions and deals were in progress but it looks like things will not be the same for our favourite childhood store.
Source: B World Online
According to BBC, the mega toy-store chain has failed to reach a deal to restructure their debt and as a result, they will be closing or selling all of their 885 stores in the US. It was reported that this mass closure would cause about 33,000 employees to lose their jobs. Oh no!
They were already closing down about one fifth of their stores as they tried to recover from their bankruptcy filing. With the emergence of online platforms like Amazon and eBay, Toys ‘R’ Us has been incurring debt like crazy and could not recoup those losses.
Source: Good Housekeeping
The deal to restructure their debt fell through after creditors decided that liquidating the assets of the famous toy retailer would be more profitable rather than keeping the business alive, according to Reuters.
It’s not only the US stores that are affected too, as all of its 100 UK stores is also set to close in the next six weeks. This move would make more than 3,000 employees jobless as things don’t look too good for the retail industry. As for other parts of the world, it was stated that the toy retailer would go into liquidation in France, Spain, Poland and Australia.
Source: Inside Retail Asia
A report on Bloomberg stated that Toys ‘R’ Us is also looking to sell their operations in Canada, Central Europe and Asia. That means us! The US chain has an 85 per cent stake in the business and 15 per cent by Fung Retailing Ltd, which is owned by Hong Kong’s billionaire Fung brothers.
An unidentified source close to the company said that the Hong Kong tycoons were considering finding partners to take control of the business and buy over Toys ‘R’ Us’ stake in the Asia operations. Currently, no final agreements have been made about the future of the Asian unit.
Guess we’ll have to see what happens next!
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