Wednesday, May 12, 2021
The disruption to the global economy that has ensued since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of companies filing for bankruptcy. Notably, the number of U.S. bankruptcy filings by companies with over $100 million in assets increased by 84 percent during the first three quarters of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
[1] In the second quarter of 2020, such filings reached the second-highest total for any quarter in the last fifteen years just below the all-time high in the first quarter of 2009 during the aftermath of the 2008–2009 financial crisis (the Financial Crisis).