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Sbarro has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization for the second time in just three years as the pizza chain struggles to turn its business around amid a drop in traffic at shopping mall food courts. The bankruptcy filing on Monday comes after the company shuttered 155 of its U.S. locations last month. The Melville, N.Y., company still has about 800 locations globally, half of those in North America. The pizza chain isn’t alone in hurting from the decline in traffic at shopping malls. Earlier this year, the owner of Hot Dot on a Stick also filed for bankruptcy protection,...

People apparently don't eat pizza when it is snowing... Or during an economic recovery... And certainly not when celebrating the market's all time high 5 year bull "market" anniversary. That is the conclusion one can derive from the just filed Sbarro Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which just happens to be the company's second in three years after it did the same in April 2011. The filing itself, which lists assets and liabilities between $100 and $500 million, is not surprising following on the heels of the announcement last month, when Sbarro said it would close 155 of 400 North...

Detroit's looming bankruptcy is making news again, this time focusing on current restructuring plans aimed to wipe out $18 billion in debt by axing pension checks of city retirees, including police and fire. Massive long-term retirement and healthcare promises were by no means solely responsible for the city's fall, but these massive pensions coupled with a tax base weakened by high unemployment and housing vacancies caused the budget to bleed out quicker. The Michigan city may be the most recent victim of bankruptcy, but many of the 61 largest U.S. cities have adopted the same retirement legacy leading to $118...

Sandwich chain Quiznos is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection within weeks as it contends with declining sales and a lofty debt load, people familiar with the matter said. The company, which has about $570 million in debt, has been negotiating with creditors for weeks on a restructuring plan that would streamline its trip through bankruptcy court, these people said. A final deal on a so-called prepackaged restructuring plan hasn't yet been reached, they said.

Italy's historic capital is on the brink of bankruptcy as its mayor plans to plead for a bailout from the national government. Mayor Ignazio Marino told the Wall Street Journal that he is in daily discussions with Italy's national government. But he stressed the parties "just needed to identify the right amount of money the government should give to Rome".

The road back for Detroit seems to be getting longer. More than three months after its historic bankruptcy filing, city officials Friday offered up their proposed plan to pay bondholders, pensioners and other creditors holding its $18 billion debt substantially less then they're owed. "We think the plan is reasonable," emergency manager Kevyn Orr told reporters. "We really don't have time for a lot of acrimony and litigation." But even before Orr had a chance to formally unveil it, the plan was under heavy attack from investors, unions representing city workers and other creditors.

Carlsbad-based chain Hot Dog on a Stick filed a Chapter 11 petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles on Monday. The company, known widely for staff in brightly-colored, striped uniforms and impaled corn dogs, said in a statement that it is seeking relief in order to reorganize and restructure its business. Hot Dog on a Stick, which currently operates 93 locations, said that it plans to continue business as usual throughout the bankruptcy proceedings. The company also said that, in addition to working to save money in the supply chain and in stores, it has made significant reductions to...

On Tuesday, credit ratings agency Standard & PoorÂ’s downgraded Puerto RicoÂ’s general-obligation bonds to BB+, a level that is considered junk status. Similar action by rating agencies MoodyÂ’s and Fitch appears virtually certain, as the island territory copes with a staggering $70 billion of debt, all of which needs to be repaid with interest. Unfortunately, Puerto Rico has been in what amounts to a continuous recession since 2006, and its economy is currently shrinking at a 6 percent pace. The official unemployment rate is 14.7 percent, and its debt-to-GDP ratio is 93 percent.Furthermore, the island is experiencing the largest population...

Hold on to your wallets, folks. Without a powerful intervention, California may soon become the first big domino to fall in America's public pension debacle. To help prevent catastrophe, the California Public Policy Center (CPPC) has just made public a new database detailing the size and scope of the state's outsized expenditures on public employees — the largest ever compiled in California. Legislators and voters should take note, because California can't afford another round of fact-free partisan warfare. As recently reported in the New York Times, the fate of California cities such as Desert Hot Springs — where civic bankruptcy...

Texas-based Furr’s Fresh Buffet restaurant chain has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company announced Tuesday. The chain employs more than 2,000 people but plans to continue operating its 29 restaurants in New Mexico, Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas during the Chapter 11 process. Buffet Partners LP said a December ice and sleet storm in North Texas, leaving tens of thousands of people without power and stranding drivers, severely hurt its already tenuous liquidity. Barry M. Barron Sr., who was named chief executive of Buffet Partners last June, said in a statement that because of “the challenges facing our...

Investments in renewable energy were supposed to be a sure thing, with wind park operators promising annual returns of up to 20 percent. More often than not, however, such pledges have been illusory -- and many investors have lost their principal to boot. Indications are mounting, however, that green capitalism will not be able to meet all expectations. In courts around the country, complaints are mounting from wind park investors who haven't received a dividend disbursement in years or whose parks went belly up. Consumer protection activists are complaining that many projects are poorly structured and lack transparency. In the...

Freedom Industries, the unfortunately named company whose chemical leak contaminated the water supply for parts of West Virginia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday. The company voted to pursue bankruptcy protection during a voluntary board meeting on Friday, according to WVNS-TV. The Wall Street Journal reports official company papers from the meeting estimate their debt at roughly $10 million, which does not include the impending clean-up costs and lawsuits, which will no doubt be immense.

As I’ve said before, I love Detroit. Born and raised there to parents who were born and raised there, and went to college at Wayne State. It’s an amazing place. I passionately want to see Detroit revitalized. But part of loving something means being honest about it, and Detroit is a mess. To save the city, to really save it and get it out of the mess it’s currently it means making sacrifices. That's why the recently announced $330 deal to "save Detroit's art" and fund pensions is so disappointing. It has nothing to do with Detroit's long-term viability and...

Like Enron, Greece, and Donald Trump before us, America is about to go bankrupt. Unfortunately, our bankruptcy will probably be more Enron and less Donald Trump because we're very unlikely to come back bigger and better in the lifetime of anyone reading this column. Instead, most Americans are probably going to experience skyrocketing taxes, spiraling inflation, widespread disorder, and a dramatically reduced standard of living. This isn’t a crisis that our great-grandchildren will have to figure out one day. To the contrary, it's entirely possible it will occur within the next decade and unless we make big changes no one...

the bogey man known as “systemic risk” to gain advantage over the other creditors . ... In order for the OTC casino to work, the derivatives contracts had to be given special priority in bankruptcy. Speculative derivative instruments such as credit default swaps (CDS), which caused the failure and government bailout of American International Group, could never exist in significant size were in not for the safe harbor from bankruptcy for derivatives created by Congress in the 1980s and 1990s. Members of Congress from both parties were paid very well for their treachery. ... The intellectual author of the “systemic...

Detroit’s decline into bankruptcy and decay seems to have boosted its desirability as a sight for tourists to visit. Howard Carter, a recent visitor to the City’s ruins, was quite enthusiastic, “It’s like seeing the pyramids without having to wait thousands of years for them to turn into ruins.” Carter congratulated himself on his good fortune. “Instead of having to pay thousands of dollars to take the family to Egypt we were all able to hop in the car and drive over from Canton,” Carter boasted. “At most we’re out a few hundred bucks instead of the thousands an overseas...

The tentative decision prohibits the city from forcing current employees to contribute significantly more toward their pensions, as called for in last year's Measure B. That left each side claiming victory, even as both expected to appeal.

Kevyn Orr, Detroit’s emergency manager, is threatening to take over one of Detroit’s pension funds after a report found that retirees received extra payments while the funds lost value. Mr. Orr proposed for Detroit to pay 20 cents on the dollar for the $3.5 billion that the city says it owes its two pension funds, one for 20,500 nonuniformed retirees and one for 12,700 retired police and firefighters. Detroit, of course, is the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, although New York City and Cleveland came close. This comes after another Detroit-area fiscal meltdown, the infamous General Motors bailout. Treasury...

With the news of Betsey Johnson, the Octomom and many other celebs facing bankruptcy in this economically uncertain time, it seems appropriate to look at other celebs who have really tanked their finances. More often than not, these actors, singers and entrepreneurs are just starting out and hoping to break out in their respective industries. But many celebs are just irresponsible with finances and blow everything they earned (we're looking at you Courtney Love). 1) Anna Nicole Smith thought she was the victim of secret sabotage. Anna Nicole Smith thought she was the victim of secret sabotage. When Anna Nicole...

“Anytime somebody says it can’t happen, I whip those pictures out and say, ’Oh, don’t you bet against it,’” Orr said the other day, not long after a federal judge allowed Detroit to become the nation’s largest city ever to enter bankruptcy. “Let me show you what can happen.” Orr, 55, who has never run for political office, finds himself in an extraordinary role. He holds power even more concentrated than that of the emergency control board that intervened when New York City was teetering near bankruptcy: an unelected lawyer chiefly responsible for the reinvention of a major American city...