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Second-Quarter Commercial Bankruptcy Filings Soar
More than 20% of the newly shuttered businesses were in California, which logged 3,141 bankruptcies in the second quarter.
July 21, 2008
Commercial bankruptcy filings jumped by 45% in the first half of 2008 over last year, and rose by 17% in the second quarter.
According to analysis by McClatchy newspapers and data from Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, 15,471 US businesses filed for protection in the second quarter, the tenth-straight quarter that commercial bankruptcy filings increased. States with the largest jump in filings were Delaware, Montana, Oregon, Maryland and Connecticut. More than 20% of the new filings were in California, which saw 3,141 bankruptcies in the second quarter. Texas suffered the next highest number of bankruptcies with 1,168, followed by Michigan with 702 and Florida with 635. New York was next, with 618 petitions, and Colorado had 547.
"The climate is turning desperate for small businesses," said George Cloutier, founder of American Management Services, a consulting firm that helps small companies increase profits. "They are in crisis, and, as these numbers show, it's getting worse and worse," he told McClatchy.
Another 60,000 to 90,000 others probably have closed, because roughly two to three businesses fold for every one that files for bankruptcy, said Jack Williams, resident scholar at the American Bankruptcy Institute.
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