Wednesday, April 08, 2020

Rent Strike

When people don't pay their rent, it's a sign of a deeply immoral character. When giant companies don't, it's just business.
Staples recently informed landlords that it will not pay April rents for its U.S. stores, even though the locations remain open, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Commercial landlords are stuck in a tightening vise, forgiving or deferring payments from shuttered tenants while still needing to meet their own mortgage obligations.

Staples, whose private equity owner Sycamore Partners took out a $1 billion dividend last year, is only making a bad situation worse.

A billion dollars worth of avocado toasts.