> They could have survived and had run way to make changes if PE didn't burden them by taking out loans against the company's assets and taking that out of the

> They could have survived and had run way to make changes if PE didn't burden them by taking out loans against the company's assets and taking that out of the company in the form of management fees. Sure. This downplays how poorly things were going for Toys R Us before the leveraged buyout. They significantly underperformed expectations the holiday season before the leveraged buyout. Private Equity bet big that they could help Toys R Us make the jump to e-commence as well as revamping stores (they were notoriously outdated compared to the competition at the time of the buyout) and improve operational efficiency. The added debt did make things worse, but Toys R Us was failing on multiple fronts before the buyout (which is why they became a buyout target). Given their underperformance in several strategic areas, it's unlikely that Toys R Us was going to magically turn things around if Private Equity never got involved. I'm not arguing that Bain and KKR (the Private Equity companies involved) added any value. Both bet and lost $1.3B each on the idea that they could legitimately turn things around at Toys R Us. The rapid rise of e-commerce along with the economic downturn in 2010 meant that Toys R Us was likely doomed regardless of who tried to lead their turnaround. There are legitimate reasons to be critical of Private Equity, but it's not as simple as saying Toys R Us died only because of it.