Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Toys 'R' Us Founder Charles Lazarus Dies at 94

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 86 posts

Re: Toys 'R' Us Founder Charles Lazarus Dies at 94

#11

Post by gedy »

erickhill wrote: post #6
jessaustin wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a nice article. What a strange maneuver from his second wife! He must have been desperately in love, to sign a prenup like that. ...their only regrets were employees who would be losing their jobs, suppliers who would be losing their best customer and all the kids who won’t grow up with Toys “R” Us. Ugh, if my nieces and nephews are any indication, kids will still get way too many toys even without this store…

I'll never forget going to Toys R Us and walking down the computer/video game aisle. It was vast. Wall-to-wall Atari, Commodore, Vectrex (!!) ... walls of just game boxes you could look over. Then pull a slip of paper out and walk to a literal Cage where you could get the real deal. That place was magical to me as a kid. (1980s, if it isn't obvious.)

Man, the Vectrex, I bought one on clearance from Toys R Us when they were discontinued in 83/84. Such a fun console

Re: Toys 'R' Us Founder Charles Lazarus Dies at 94

#14

Post by dmix »

What poor timing, oh well he had a great life and great accomplishments during his prime.

> saddled with more than $5 billion in debt

Wow, I haven't yet followed the story of Toys R Us but that is a huge amount of debt. I can't imagine what severe mismanagement happened at the company to allow this. Must have had some ex-government workers managing finances (/s)...

> Since Lazarus stepped down as chief executive officer in 1994

Ah, so it was well after he left. It's sad to see your creation falter but it wasn't his baby anymore. Many great companies end up failing after their original founders leave. I'd be curious to read more about how they messed it up so badly.

Re: Toys 'R' Us Founder Charles Lazarus Dies at 94

#15

Post by xigency »

dmix wrote: post #14

What poor timing, oh well he had a great life and great accomplishments during his prime. > saddled with more than $5 billion in debt Wow, I haven't yet followed the story of Toys R Us but that is a huge amount of debt. I can't imagine what severe mismanagement happened at the company to allow this. Must have had some ex-government workers managing finances (/s)... > Since Lazarus stepped down as chief executive offi…

Two words: leveraged buyout. I'm not sure what purpose they serve other than to create debt.

Working at a company that was acquired by a smaller fish with a $4 billion loan, it made things painful when cuts were constantly made to pay interest on debt. Somehow, the situation benefited the shareholders that signed off on the deal.

Re: Toys 'R' Us Founder Charles Lazarus Dies at 94

#17

Post by evv »

erickhill wrote: post #6
jessaustin wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a nice article. What a strange maneuver from his second wife! He must have been desperately in love, to sign a prenup like that. ...their only regrets were employees who would be losing their jobs, suppliers who would be losing their best customer and all the kids who won’t grow up with Toys “R” Us. Ugh, if my nieces and nephews are any indication, kids will still get way too many toys even without this store…

I'll never forget going to Toys R Us and walking down the computer/video game aisle. It was vast. Wall-to-wall Atari, Commodore, Vectrex (!!) ... walls of just game boxes you could look over. Then pull a slip of paper out and walk to a literal Cage where you could get the real deal. That place was magical to me as a kid. (1980s, if it isn't obvious.)

90's kid here. Thank you for reminding me that I got my GameBoy color from Toys R Us.. what a great day that was!

Kids these days will keep on getting toys and video games, but the Amazon experience will never compare to the Toys R Us wonderland.

Re: Toys 'R' Us Founder Charles Lazarus Dies at 94

#18

Post by jackfraser »

xigency wrote: post #15
dmix wrote: post #14

What poor timing, oh well he had a great life and great accomplishments during his prime. > saddled with more than $5 billion in debt Wow, I haven't yet followed the story of Toys R Us but that is a huge amount of debt. I can't imagine what severe mismanagement happened at the company to allow this. Must have had some ex-government workers managing finances (/s)... > Since Lazarus stepped down as chief executive offi…

Two words: leveraged buyout. I'm not sure what purpose they serve other than to create debt. Working at a company that was acquired by a smaller fish with a $4 billion loan, it made things painful when cuts were constantly made to pay interest on debt. Somehow, the situation benefited the shareholders that signed off on the deal.

Well yeah, it's pretty straightforward. Company A borrows $4 billion; it's leveraged against the company they're going to buy; they buy Company B, paying out the shareholders, and B merges into A and keeps the debt.

I'm having a struggle with whether this seems moral or not. B is saddled with a big debt, and employees of company B may suffer as a result of this (anything from losing bonuses or profit sharing opportunities, to losing headcount, or having the very future of the company put into question). The new owners also have to live with this situation, while the old owners skip merrily away with their profits gleaned from the future work that will be done to pay down the loan.

This seems negative, but has to be balanced with the fact that the shareholders of company B are the owners of the company, and it is their decision to do as they wish; if they're offered a certain sum for their shares, it's their choice to take it. It's unfortunate that this comes with blindness to the future impact of that action, but this may be a necessary or at least presently contingent artifact of capitalism.

Re: Toys 'R' Us Founder Charles Lazarus Dies at 94

#19

Post by darkkindness »

dmix wrote: post #14

What poor timing, oh well he had a great life and great accomplishments during his prime. > saddled with more than $5 billion in debt Wow, I haven't yet followed the story of Toys R Us but that is a huge amount of debt. I can't imagine what severe mismanagement happened at the company to allow this. Must have had some ex-government workers managing finances (/s)... > Since Lazarus stepped down as chief executive offi…

You might be interested in a HN submission from last week, a WaPo story of a brief history of Toys 'R' Us' recent financial troubles. In short:

> The company has struggled to pay down nearly $8 billion in debt — much of it dating to a 2005 leveraged buyout — and has had trouble finding a buyer.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16588564

Re: Toys 'R' Us Founder Charles Lazarus Dies at 94

#20

Post by bartread »

gedy wrote: post #11
erickhill wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll never forget going to Toys R Us and walking down the computer/video game aisle. It was vast. Wall-to-wall Atari, Commodore, Vectrex (!!) ... walls of just game boxes you could look over. Then pull a slip of paper out and walk to a literal Cage where you could get the real deal. That place was magical to me as a kid. (1980s, if it isn't obvious.)

Man, the Vectrex, I bought one on clearance from Toys R Us when they were discontinued in 83/84. Such a fun console

I've recently got back into retro gaming, having somewhat tired of the cost and constant updates to modern titles, and looked into picking up a Vectrex because I never had one as a kid: working examples are now going for £900+ in the UK so I dropped the idea.

EDIT: Having said that, I just checked eBay again, and it seems like availability is up and prices are down. A bunch of auctions under £100, and some Buy It Nows for around £200. Hmm.

Post reply on HN