Is that why they are absurdly expensive compared to all of their competitors?

They're paying out an excessive dividend that completely empties their cash reserves and makes operating the company unsustainable

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/11/12/oregon-ag-files-court...

Corporate bankruptcy is a scam. Any merger on auction should acquire existing debts, and execs should be a lien against wealth and future income.

Counter-argument, moneylenders shouldn't loan money to companies doing this. And secured lenders have their protections.

Anyways, they knew the game. Bankruptcy auctions are essentially debtors recouping as many of their costs as possible before writing off the rest (further minimizing future taxes).

What a ridiculous proposal. Eliminating corporate bankruptcy and making employees personally liable for business debts would wreck the US economy. If debtors take a haircut then it's their own fault for lending in the first place; no one is forced to buy corporate bonds and vendors always have the option of requiring cash on delivery.

> making employees personally liable for business debts would wreck the US economy

Letting employees loot the company for their own profit isn't any better.

Shareholders and lenders already have the necessary legal tools to prevent employee looting, if they choose to use them.

I don’t have a real strong view on this specific situation one way or the other but it’s relevant that the appeals courts pretty quickly threw out this suit and allowed Albertsons to pay the dividend.

Yes, they consistently lost money from 2008-2019.