Our company has been around for over 50 years, and our owner was shocked to hear it closed. Said we used to do a lot with Poblocki, never had any issues, then nothing for years (assuming since the acquisition). For all the shop personnel, the Milwaukee- Chicago area is kind of the mid west hub for everything from vendors, to sign manufacturers, and as dense as it is there, a lot of shops. Hopefully they'll all find a new home where they can utilize their talents, and be happy at.
Stories of investment and hedge firms failing company after company is too common. Some just run them into the ground for a quick payday. Others... I don't know if they want to succeed and just spread themselves too thin, shift too many funds to run or buy other companies, or what. We've lost a lot of good ones in every field as people with a bit of resources, and not enough business moxie try to become conglomerates. A community just north of me was a booming mill town since the late 1800's, until a hedge fund group bought the mill. They started selling off assets, along with their customer base almost immediately to cover expenses, and in no time at all it was shuttered. 450+ lost their jobs, and the town became abandoned, just streets with no homes lining them as banks foreclosed, and taxes went up to the highest in the state to maintain it. The biggest problem here is, there was nowhere for that many blue collar factory workers to turn to for work, keep their families fed, and a roof over their head.
