15 Companies That Will Soon Go Bankrupt

Of the 15 companies we flagged as bankruptcy risks in 2019, five filed for court protection and only one, 99 Cents Only, shut down completely, as of October 2026. This updated scorecard checks every call against what happened next. Some brands vanished into a bigger owner, some filed and returned, and a few, like Barnes and Noble, did better than anyone predicted.

#	Company	2019 call	What happened	Verdict
1	Victoria’s Secret	Sales falling	Spun off from L Brands, Aug 2021	Still standing
2	Diesel	Debt trouble	US arm filed Mar 2019, brand continues	Filed (US arm) and survived
3	Fitbit	Losing to Apple	Bought by Google for $2.1B, Jan 2021	Absorbed
4	Gap	Store closures	Old Navy spin-off cancelled, Jan 2020	Still standing
5	Avon	Out by 2020	Chapter 11 Aug 2024, new owners	Filed and survived
6	Roberto Cavalli	Liquidating	Bought by DAMAC, 2019	Absorbed
7	Revlon	At risk	Chapter 11 Jun 2022, emerged May 2023	Filed and survived
8	99 Cents Only	Losing money	Closed all 371 stores, Apr 2024	Filed and closed
9	Sears	Bought back for $5.2B	5 US stores left, Dec 2025	Filed and shrank to a shell
10	Snapchat	Losing to Instagram	Still independent, Specs glasses 2026	Still standing
11	GoPro	Phones replace it	Merger with Starman Optical, Sep 2026	Still standing, barely
12	HTC	Phones fading	Google bought team for $1.1B, 2017	Still standing
13	Norwegian Air	Uncertain	Restructured 2020 to 2021, buying Sunclass parent 2026	Recovered
14	Sprint	Merging	Acquired by T-Mobile, Apr 2020	Absorbed
15	Barnes and Noble	Final chapter	Sold to Elliott 2019, opening stores	Still standing, growing

How we scored the 15 calls

The original list, written in 2019, named 15 brands as bankruptcy risks. We checked each one against what happened through October 2026 and gave it one of four verdicts: Filed and survived, Filed and closed, Absorbed (bought or merged away) or Still standing. Our rule: a brand “went bankrupt” only if it or its main operating company filed for court protection.

1. Victoria’s Secret: Still standing

Victoria’s Secret was split off from L Brands in August 2021 and now trades as its own public company. The 2019 call said falling sales and store closures pointed to bankruptcy. That did not happen: the brand kept its stores, rebuilt its image around a broader range of body types, and in 2026 ran a casting show on YouTube to choose a new Angel for its next fashion show.

It is not risk free. A 2025 cyber incident forced the company to shut its website for a time, and an activist shareholder tried to change the board in 2025 and lost the vote at the 2026 annual meeting.

2. Diesel: Filed (US arm only) and survived

Diesel USA filed for Chapter 11 in March 2019 and closed some stores. The Italian parent company, part of the OTB Group, was not part of the filing. Under creative director Glenn Martens, who joined in October 2020, Diesel’s online sales rose 34% in 2021 compared with 2019.

So the brand did not disappear. The lesson is that a regional filing is not the same thing as a dead brand.

3. Fitbit: Absorbed

Fitbit never went bankrupt. Google bought it for $2.1 billion in January 2021. Google then discontinued Fitbit smartwatches in August 2024 to focus on the Pixel Watch, and in May 2026 it renamed the Fitbit app to Google Health.

Fitbit’s fate fits the pattern of 2019’s weak wearables brands: the name survives on trackers, but the independent company is gone.

4. Gap: Still standing

Gap Inc. still runs four brands: Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta. The planned spin-off of Old Navy, announced in February 2019, was called off in January 2020. Zac Posen became creative director in February 2024, and in September 2025 Gap said it would sell personal care products and cosmetics inside Old Navy stores.

With the stock at about $22 on October 23, 2026, Gap is a turnaround story, not a bankruptcy.

5. Avon: Filed and survived

The University of Vermont study cited in 2019 predicted an Avon bankruptcy by the end of 2020. It was wrong on timing. Avon was bought by Natura in January 2020, and Avon Products filed for Chapter 11 in August 2024 to resolve talc-related lawsuits.

Natura then sold Avon International to Regent LP for one pound, completing the deal on December 31, 2025. In August 2026, Regent announced it would also buy Avon North America from LG H&H. The door-to-door model survived, just under new owners.

6. Roberto Cavalli: Absorbed

Cavalli was not liquidated. In 2019, the Dubai developer DAMAC Properties, led by Hussain Sajwani, completed the acquisition of the Italian fashion group. The US store closures that fed the bankruptcy rumours were part of that restructuring.

The house still sells clothing, leather accessories and fragrance.

7. Revlon: Filed and survived

This was a correct call. Revlon filed for Chapter 11 on June 16, 2022, citing debt, competition, supply chain problems and shifting beauty standards. It emerged in May 2023 as a private company.

Revlon is the cleanest example in this list of a name that survives bankruptcy because the brand is worth more than the debt.

8. 99 Cents Only: Filed and closed

The call was right, and it is the clearest loss on the list. In March 2024 the chain warned of a liquidity shortfall. On April 4, 2024, it announced it would close all of its remaining 371 stores and lay off about 14,000 employees, and it filed for Chapter 11 on April 8, 2024.

Liquidation sales ran through the summer of 2024.

9. Sears: Filed and shrank to a shell

Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 on October 15, 2018. Chairman Eddie Lampert won the bankruptcy auction in January 2019, and a judge approved his $5.2 billion plan in February 2019, which kept roughly 425 stores open. That is the deal the original article described.

It did not work. From 2,705 stores at the 2011 peak, only five Sears stores were still open in the US as of December 2025. The parent now mainly manages and sells off real estate, while the Sears brand lives on in Mexico and Guatemala under separate owners.

10. Snapchat: Still standing

Snapchat never got acquired. Snap Inc. introduced a paid subscription in 2022, built an AI chatbot into the app in 2023, launched creator subscriptions in February 2026 and announced a new generation of AR glasses called Specs in June 2026. The app reported more than 300 million monthly users in 2023.

The business is another matter. Snap shares traded at about $6.34 on October 23, 2026, so the risk is shareholder returns, not bankruptcy.

Want the story behind it? Watch 15 things you didn’t know about Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat.

11. GoPro: Still standing, barely

In 2019 the argument was that phone cameras made action cameras unnecessary. It took until 2026 for the pressure to show. In May 2026, GoPro said it was reviewing strategic alternatives after unsolicited inquiries. In July 2026, it took a $20 million senior secured note from entities tied to CEO Nick Woodman.

On September 1, 2026, GoPro agreed to merge with Starman Optical, a private optical parts maker. Shareholders are due $1.14 in cash plus 0.1 share of the surviving company per GoPro share. The stock was around $1 on October 23, 2026. This is the entry most likely to end as a bankruptcy-adjacent exit.

12. HTC: Still standing, in a different business

HTC did not go bankrupt, but its phone business shrank. In September 2017, Google paid $1.1 billion for roughly half of HTC’s 4,000-person design and research staff and a non-exclusive licence to smartphone IP, including the team behind the Pixel.

HTC’s main identity since is virtual reality, through the Vive headset it developed with Valve.

13. Norwegian Air: Restructured and recovered

Norwegian cut back sharply in 2020 and 2021, ending its long-haul operations and moving to a debt-to-equity plan backed by Norwegian state aid. It then returned to a short-haul, all Boeing 737 model.

Since then it has bought Widerøe, completing the deal in January 2024, and in June 2026 it announced plans to acquire the parent of Sunclass Airlines. Norway’s government became a 6.4% shareholder in May 2025 by converting half of its loan into shares.

14. Sprint: Absorbed

The merger the 2019 article described went through. T-Mobile completed its acquisition of Sprint on April 1, 2020, when Sprint had 54.3 million customers. The Sprint brand was retired on August 2, 2020.

Technically this was never a bankruptcy. It was a consolidation from four US carriers to three.

15. Barnes and Noble: Still standing, and growing

This is the biggest reversal on the list. Elliott bought the chain for about $683 million in August 2019 and made James Daunt, who ran Waterstones, the CEO. He let local store managers choose their own layouts and stock, and the chain announced plans for thirty new stores in 2023.

The bookstore chain predicted to disappear is now expanding while its largest rival, Borders, is long gone.

Bonus: Apple

The original bonus entry noted Apple crossing $1 trillion in 2018. It has since passed $2 trillion (August 2020), $3 trillion (January 2022), $4 trillion (October 2025) and $5 trillion (July 2026). Nvidia has been larger at times, crossing $5 trillion in October 2025 and peaking above $5.7 trillion in May 2026, so Apple is no longer the world’s most valuable company on every day.

What the scorecard tells us

Only five of the fifteen filed for court protection (Sears, Diesel USA, Revlon, Avon and 99 Cents Only), and only 99 Cents Only closed outright. Four more were absorbed or restructured by bigger owners. The brands that failed were those with no price edge or no reason to visit a physical store. The ones that recovered, like Barnes and Noble, changed how the stores worked rather than just cutting costs.

Which brand do you think is next? Tell us in the comments, Aluxers.

Keep reading

Why companies aren’t going public anymore: the private ownership model behind Barnes and Noble and Revlon today
15 top companies that control everything you consume: the other side of the scorecard, the giants that kept winning
3 key business metrics every entrepreneur must know: the numbers that separate a turnaround from a collapse

FAQ

Which companies on this list actually went bankrupt?

Five filed: Sears (October 2018), Diesel USA (March 2019), Revlon (June 2022), Avon Products (August 2024) and 99 Cents Only (April 2024). Revlon and Avon kept operating after their filings. 99 Cents Only closed all stores.

Did Sears go out of business?

Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 in October 2018 and was bought out by its chairman in 2019 for $5.2 billion. As of December 2025, only five Sears stores were still open in the US.

Is Fitbit still a company?

Not an independent one. Google bought Fitbit for $2.1 billion in January 2021, stopped making Fitbit smartwatches in August 2024 and renamed the Fitbit app Google Health in May 2026.

Is GoPro going bankrupt in 2026?

GoPro reviewed strategic alternatives from May 2026 and agreed on September 1, 2026 to merge with Starman Optical. The company has not filed for bankruptcy as of October 2026, but its shares traded around $1.

What happened to Sprint?

T-Mobile completed its acquisition of Sprint on April 1, 2020, and the Sprint brand was discontinued on August 2, 2020.

How did Barnes and Noble avoid closing?

Elliott bought it in August 2019 for about $683 million and installed James Daunt as CEO. Stores got more control over stock and layout, and the chain planned thirty new stores in 2023.

How we put this list together

We kept the original 15 companies and checked each one against company filings, court records and reporting through October 2026. Verdicts reflect only whether the company or its main operating unit filed for court protection.

Last updated: October 2026.