They will get the $2.7bn back from taxpayers, as this will be recorded as a loss under the scheme for investments in technology startups - I forget its name - where the government acts as guarantor on the debt.

So:

1) they get a tax rebate

2) they get a large marginal rebate on their loss

3) they end up with the business anyway, possibly while making a net profit because

4) there are state level incentives for taking on those 550 workers.

They’re just working the corporate welfare system, like all the others.