Contracts don’t disappear on acquisition, of course. The new owner takes on the responsibilities of the acquired company, as well as its assets.

Companies also are not physical items that can disappear due to natural disasters.

The only ways they can disappear is by closing down, and that does mean honoring contracts, and by going bankrupt and that means using all leftover assets to satisfy all the parties whose contracts you’re breaking. And no, you can’t just transfer all assets away and leave a shell to go bankrupt because that is fraud and the judge can nullify the transfers.