2007 Public Company Bankruptcies Already Surpassed - BankruptcyData.com

Monday’s mammoth Lehman Brothers Holdings’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing has dominated worldwide news—thrusting US Bankruptcy Court proceedings into the international spotlight. While this case certainly is record-shattering, in terms of its colossal size, there was yet another significant marker passed this week. With more than three months still remaining in 2008, this year has exceeded the total number of corporate public Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings seen in all of 2007. http://www.bankruptcydata.com reveals that the total count for last year reached just 78 public bankruptcies, and this year has already seen 81 such filings.

Record-Shattering Assets

Needless to say, Lehman Brothers’ jaw-dropping $691 billion in total pre-petition assets knocked our combined asset figure for 2008 right out of the ballpark, easily leaving last year’s total—and any other historic combined annual total—in the dust. Even without Lehman Brothers’ unprecedented asset figure included in the mix, this year’s combined to-date assets still easily exceed last year’s year-end count.

2008 Vs. Historic Data

Yes, most pundits agree that the high level of debt raised in the last five years—coupled with our current credit and mortgage crisis plus potential fallout from unparalleled bankruptcies like Lehman Brothers—are likely to bring a deluge of public company filings. However, bankruptcy research and historic perspective indicate that despite this recent up-turn, our filing count still remains historically low. In terms of the number of public companies filing a Chapter 11 or Chapter 7 petition with the US Bankruptcy Court, the accompanying chart reveals a consistent reduction since 2001’s high of 263. The 2007 figure rose slightly from 2006’s low of 66, and 2008’s numbers will certainly climb further. However, we are still far-removed from the filing levels seen earlier this decade. While it is doubtful that year-end bankruptcies will hit the historic highs seen in 2001, Lehman Brothers’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy will almost certainly secure 2008’s spot in the record books.

BankruptcyData.com — published by New Generation Research, Inc. — provides news, financial history, creditor information, reorganization details and more for over 2500 publicly-traded companies that have filed for bankruptcy protection since 1980. Reference our Research Center for in-depth historic analysis of largest company bankruptcy filings.