Bankruptcy Asset Levels Reach Record Levels, According to BankruptcyData.com.Business Editors BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 13, 2002 The assets of U.S. publicly traded companies publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. filing for bankruptcy bankruptcy, in law, settlement of the liabilities of a person or organization wholly or partially unable to meet financial obligations. The purposes are to distribute, through a court-appointed receiver, the bankrupt's assets equitably among creditors and, in most in 2002 have reached record levels. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. www.BankruptcyData.com, a Boston-based web site that tracks corporate bankruptcies, 129 publicly traded companies have filed for bankruptcy in 2002 listing a record prepetition assets of $267.6 billion. The previous asset record was set in 2001 with $258.6 billion. At the height of the previous bankruptcy wave in 1990 115 publicly traded companies filed for bankruptcy listing total assets of just $73.4 billion. The recent filing of US Airways airways Anatomy The 'pipes'–trachea, bronchi, bronchioles–through which air passes to and from the alveoli. See Small airways. helped to solidify so·lid·i·fy v. so·lid·i·fied, so·lid·i·fy·ing, so·lid·i·fies v.tr. 1. To make solid, compact, or hard. 2. To make strong or united. v.intr. the record but it is the filing of telecom giant WorldCom, Inc. that pushed 2002 to record highs. With total assets of $103.9 billion (as reported on its latest Annual Report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. ) WorldCom (WCOME) became the largest company ever to go into bankruptcy when it filed a Chapter 11 petition on July 21, 2002 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court bankruptcy court n. the specialized Federal court in which bankruptcy matters under the Federal Bankruptcy Act are conducted. There are several bankruptcy courts in each state, and each one's territory covers several counties. in Manhattan. WorldCom's assets are significantly higher than the previous record holder, Enron Corp. (ENRNQ), which filed for bankruptcy December 3, 2001 with total assets of $63.3 billion. According to www.BankruptcyData.com, the next largest companies to file for Chapter 11 were Texaco, Inc., which filed April 12, 1987 with $35.9 billion in total assets, and Financial Corporation of America, which filed on September 9, 1988 with $33.9 billion in assets. The telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. industry dominates the publicly traded bankruptcy filings in 2002. Including cable television companies within the sector, telecommunications companies See telecom company. represent eight of the ten largest companies filing for Chapter 11 this year (see the listing below). Of the ten largest bankruptcies this year, only Kmart Corporation (KM, retailing) and US Airways (U, Airlines) are not related to telecommunications. So far in 2002, 22 publicly traded telecommunications companies have filed for bankruptcy, out of a total of 129 public companies entering Chapter 11.
The Largest of 2002 (Source: BankruptcyData.com)
Company Bankruptcy Assets
Date
WorldCom, Inc. (OTC:WCOME) 7/21/2002 $103,900,000,000.00
Global Crossing, Ltd. (OTC:GBLXQ) 1/28/2002 $25,511,000,000.00
Adelphia Comm., Corp. (OTC:ADEL) 6/25/2002 $24,409,662,000.00
Kmart Corp. (NYSE:KM) 1/22/2002 $17,007,000,000.00
NTL, Inc. (OTC:NTLD) 5/8/2002 $16,834,200,000.00
US Airways, Inc. (NYSE:U) 8/11/2002 $8,025,000,000.00
Metromedia Fiber Network (OTC:MFNXQ) 5/20/2002 $7,024,208,000.00
Williams Comm. Group, Inc. (OTC:WCGRQ) 4/22/2002 $5,990,000,000.00
XO Communications, Inc. (OTC:XOXOQ) 6/17/2002 $5,704,497,000.00
McLeodUSA, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCLD) 1/30/2002 $4,792,600,000.00
Additional information about WorldCom and the other large companies in Chapter 11 is available at www.bankruptcydata.com. For additional information: Contact Christopher Stuttard, BankruptcyData.Com, 225 Friend St. Boston, MA 02114, telephone (617) 573-9557. |
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