Opinion

How Hedge Funds Profit When Big Companies Like Thomas Cook Fail

Marti Subrahmanyam
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The media has laid the blame for Thomas Cook’s problems primarily on poor management, changing consumer preferences and even Brexit. But those explanations are only part of the story.
By Marti Subrahmanyam
In September 2019, the 178-year-old global tour operator Thomas Cook “ceased trading with immediate effect.” The collateral damage associated with the liquidation was considerable: more than 20,000 employees without work, an estimated 600,000 travellers stranded around the world and repatriation and customer compensation costs north of 600 million British pounds, or almost $1 billion.

Efforts to bring people home were referred to as the “biggest peacetime repatriation in history.”

The media has laid the blame for Thomas Cook’s problems primarily on poor management, changing consumer preferences and even Brexit. But those explanations are only part of the story.

Read the full article in The Conversation.

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Marti Subrahmanyam is the Charles E. Merrill Professor of Finance, Economics and International Business