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EP Energy’s $7 Billion Lesson in Borrowed Time
EP Energy could find oil, drill wells and hedge prices. What it could not do was make a leveraged buyout forget the price of oil.
The Bankruptcy Lawyer Who Learned That Silence Has a Balance Sheet
C Street began with a broad promise and found its edge in a very narrow room: the room where lawyers, lenders and nervous executives decide what everyone else will hear. Its rise is a case study in turning lived expertise into a category of one.
TPx Built the IT Sidekick for 25,000 Businesses. Then a $1.1 Billion Debt Load Became the Villain
TPx spent a quarter-century turning phone lines into an all-in-one technology service. Its 2026 restructuring reveals both the value of that model - and the price of financing growth with too much debt.
The Instant Pot Sold Millions Without an Ad. Then the Debt Cooked It.
A computer scientist built a smarter pressure cooker, sold millions on word of mouth, and watched private equity turn a viral kitchen hit into a bankruptcy case study. Here is what the Instant Pot did, what it cost, and what a founder can actually copy.
Car Toys Spent 38 Years Selling You a Better Stereo. Then the Dashboard Got Smart.
For 38 years the Seattle chain sold drivers a better stereo than the one bolted in at the factory. Then the factory dashboard learned to do it all - and the largest independent car-audio retailer in America had to decide what it was really selling.
Linqto Built a $1,000 Door Into Unicorns. Then the Door Jammed.
Linqto turned private-company investing into something that looked almost like online shopping. Its rise - and its Chapter 11 restructuring - shows both the appeal and the hidden plumbing of fintech access.
The Diet That Invented Group Therapy Now Writes Prescriptions
It taught a generation to count points and lean on each other. Then a weekly shot changed the math - so WeightWatchers went to the doctor.