Sina U. S. Stock News Beijing time on December 7 news, still remember the century-old store Sears Department Store (Sears) in 1950 and 1960s when dominating the retail industry? Over the past decade, the rise of the e-commerce industry has dealt a particularly fatal blow to Sears. By 2018, the company will finally go into bankruptcy protection.
What about Blockbuster, a pioneer in DVD leasing? Due to the streaming media service NetflixWith the rise of Blockbuster, it closed down in 2014. Due to TwitterChanges in the mode of operation, Facebook IncThe popularity of videos and Snap IncWith the rise of chat, the popular Twitter video service Vine also shut down in 2017.
The media reviewed some famous corporate bankruptcies in the past decade. All in all, these are stories about companies that are not doing enough to maintain their competitive advantage and adapt to changing market dynamics.
The Borders Group, the second largest chain bookstore operator in the United States.
Founded in 1971
Died in September 2011
The demise of chain store Borders is Amazon.Com Inc.One of the rising "victims". The company outsourced e-commerce sales to Amazon.Com Inc, diverting online customers to Amazon.Com Inc, eventually diluting its customer base and reducing Borders's ability to catch up with online sales. The company has never launched an e-reading device, and Amazon.Com Inc's Kindle series is now popular all over the world.
DVD leasing company Blockbuster
Founded in 1985
Died in January 2014
Blockbuster operated more than 9000 stores at its peak. In 2010, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy protection because of competition from Netflix and other emerging video services. Blockbuster's business model has been undermined by many technological developments, including competition for new hardware development.
Interestingly, CEOJohn Antioco before Blockbuster approached Netflix and eventually turned down a $50 million acquisition of Netflix. Netflix finally went public in 2002 and became one of the streaming media giants. Antioco later tried to catch up with Netflix's subscription model by launching an online business and eliminating rental late fees, but those efforts came to nothing under pressure from aggressive investors.
Sidecar, one of the ancestors of carpool.
Founded in 2011
Died in December 2015
Sidecar was founded in San Francisco in 2011, but failed to compete with rivals Uber and LyftExpand the scale and scope as well. Sidecar operates in only 10 American cities, mostly in California.
Sidecar has long deployed drivers to deliver the last mile of parcels and groceries outside the peer-to-peer ride. But even this strategy has proved unsustainable, especially given the capital differences between Sidecar and its rivals. In early 2016, General Motors Co(GM) announced the acquisition of some of the assets of Sidecar.
Electronic products retailer RadioShack
Founded in 1921
Died in March 2017.
When Best Buy appears(Best buy) and Amazon.Com Inc, RadioShack was an undisputed leader in electronics retail. In its heyday, RadioShack operated more than 4500 stores across the United States. In the 2000s, RadioShack began to go downhill. The company declared bankruptcy twice in more than two years because of mismanagement and over-expansion of its chain stores.
Toys R us (Toys'R'Us)
Founded in 1957
Died in September 2017
Toys R us has been the toy capital of the United States for decades. But by the early 2000s, Walmart Inc(Walmart) and Target Corp(Target) has become an important competitor in the toy industry, and Amazon.Com Inc has become a leader in toy sales. In addition, with the advent of smartphones, children's play habits begin to change.
Interestingly, Richard Barry, the former chief marketing officer of Toys R us, bought the company's brand name. During Black five in 2019, Barry opened his first redesigned Toys R us store.
"Blood test scam" Theranos
Founded in 2003
Died in September 2018
Theranos, founded by Elizabeth Holmes (Elizabeth Holmes) after dropping out of Stanford at the age of 19, promises to detect health problems with just a punctured finger and a few drops of blood. She was also known as the "female version of Steve Jobs". The company has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from bigwigs such as Rupert Murdoch.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Theranos and its founder Holmes of "large-scale fraud" in 2018, exaggerating or misrepresenting the company's technical, business and financial performance. As of early 2019, the Justice Department was reviewing about 17 million pages of documents relating to the Theranos case and was likely to add more charges against Holmes and others.
Century-old retail store Sears
Founded in 1893
Died in October 2018.
Before Amazon.Com Inc appeared, Sears was Amazon.Com Inc. In 2005, Sears, led by chairman Eddie Lampert, merged with discount store Kmart, a catastrophic merger that marked the beginning of the chain's slow death. Lampert has a serious lack of investment and operational experience in the retail sector, while competitors Walmart Inc and Target Corp are quite the opposite. By October 2018, Sears had filed for bankruptcy protection because of losses and mounting debt in previous years.
Some media commented that Sears' bankruptcy was not so much a "natural disaster" as a "man-made disaster".
Bon-Ton, one of the largest regional department store chains in the United States.
Founded in 1898
Died in February 2018
Bon-Ton is a company in the Midwest of the United States, famous for affordable clothing and household goods. But the chain never really achieved the scale needed to survive in a changing retail environment. With Sears (Sears) and PennyLike large retailers such as department stores (J.C. Penney), Bon-Ton is in trouble as consumers increasingly turn to online shopping.
Footwear retailer Payless Shoesource
Founded in 1956
Died in February 2019.
Payless was once one of the largest footwear retailers in the United States, synonymous with the sale of cheap shoes. But as more and more people chose to buy shoes online, the company stood out in the late 2000s and was gradually overtaken by Target Corp.