Furniture company Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams went bankrupt overnight. Here's how. 

Living in NC, I can tell you this happens in the furniture business over and over again. It is hard to figure out who owns what. But don't let Mitchell Gold fool ya! He made millions and millions as he watched the company go down the drain. He may be on CBS crying crocodile tears for his beloved employees but he is going home to a mansion while they are being evicted from their homes. The average working man always takes the fall!!

This video has a very strange spin. “They decided not to take the gamble” actually means “they decided not to honor their commitments by delivering the furniture that people bought and pay the salaries that their employees are owed”. Or, in simple terms, “They decided to steal.”

And people wonder why employees aren't loyal to jobs anymore ..here ya go.

This is why I love employee owned companies, gives employees incentives and they share in the company's success.

This is why local stores and small businesses are so important. Having a retail reach a point where they may be “too big to fail” is so dangerous.

I just went to the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams website and see it is still up and running. I selected a sofa, selected fabric, etc... and went to check out without a word that the company is bankrupt and out of business. Of course I did not go far enough to give my payment information but I wonder how many others are ordering furniture and do not know the company is gone? I also wonder if the parent company is still pocketing people's money???

Private equity funds need to be legislated out of business immediately.

PRIVATE EQUITY COMPANY, that's all you need to know. They are not trying to build a brand or legacy, just bleed them dry & dump them. Now they are in the housing market buying up whole neighborhoods & renting them out. I give the original owner credit for speaking out. It's disgusting that the equity firm gets to just walk away from customers & the employees. Just immoral & absolutely disgusting.

Flowers Flooring in Cornelius, NC closed its doors recently. It has not returned deposits, it has not paid employees and people are out a lot of money and the state has yet to do anything to help hard-working people who lost so much. Laws need to change to protect people more than protect crooked businesses.

These private equity owners have been doing that to small rural hospitals loading up on huge loans then closing the healthcare system leaving communities without any hospital.

Corporations have more rights than everyday people

I live in Taylorsville and my neighbor was one of those laid-off. This is devastating for our community and economy. 😢

The practice of buying a company and then loading it with debt needs to be outlawed. It's what happened to Toys R Us years ago. They find companies with little to no debt, buy them then load billions on their balance sheets then try to sell them again or just close them down. It really should be illegal.

🤷🏽‍♂I rob a convenience store for $500 and get years in prison, with Corporate Theft nobody goes to jail.

My favorite furniture company, I have a couple of pieces that are still in tip top shape 20+ years later. You knew it might be pricey but would last the test of time and heavy use. This absolutely breaks my heart, not to mention anger me for the workers. Companies should not be able to just move states in the 11th hour so they can, for all intents and purpose, break the law!

Someone should pay the workers their severance. The workers and town deserve that.

The employees were viewed as disposable. So sad and wrong and should be illegal.

This is such an important news story, very clearly reported for an economic lay person like myself. Very depressing to watch, it also makes me angry we let these "loopholes" exist. It makes me feel so powerless, and that's ehere my anger comes from. Bravo to Mitchell Gold for being open to talk about it Thank you.

He says it would be nice to point to a villain. Private equity firms ARE the villains. They are ALWAYS the villains.

It happened to me. A laminating company grew like crazy during the Iraq wars. The owner sold it and retired. There was an explosion at the plant. The "Venture Capital" firm did cursory repairs, pocketed the insurance money and then ran it without paying suppliers until the bank shut it; They walked away and two hundred people lost their jobs.

The next positive story told about private equity will be the 'first' one I've heard about them. They're called "pirate equity" for a reason. Which is probably an insult to actual pirates!

I have a Mitchell Gold couch that Pottery Barn sold to me. Was expensive but it has lasted for almost 20 years and still looks great. Quality products.

Private equity just buys up companies, loads them up with debts while slashing costs and than getting out before the music stops

Most terrifying words: "I'm from a private equity firm and I'm here to help."

That's the nature of private equity - it accomplishes its goal by maximizing profits and deferring issues. As an employee, when you hear about a change in management, it's crucial to determine if it involves private equity. If it does, it might be a good time to start considering your next steps.

Not only did they not "continue their gamble in the company" they refused to honor the commitments to customers their subsidiary had made.

So sad for our area. The employees found out by an email and a note taped to the gate.

Private Equity is the death knell for American workers.

I worked for a medical company and we would buy companies for their IP and lay everyone off. We bought a small competitor with a better product and laid everyone off and canceled the product and kept building our inferior product. One company that we bought got the last laugh when the founders started another company and went into direct competition with us. They even tried to buy the building next to ours and poached a lot of our top talent. 10 years of lawsuits between us and them finally settled out of court but in those 10 years the market value of their company surpassed ours. Billion dollar companies so not small change

Greed. Greed and more greed from all sides is the reason of its failure.

I feel bad for the company and people who lost their jobs

"Private equity" really means public parasites.

This isn't the first time a bank has killed a business due to a minor technicality. My friend's business was destroyed when the bank called his 20-year note, which he took out to expand, in the second year because they needed the cash to boost their shareholder report. Of course, he didn't have that amount of cash on hand and had to close all of his stores. He had built up his family business over decades, and it was gone in a snap.

Just as private equity owners have ruined newspapers they ruined Mitchell Gold. That's also what happened to Sears and Kmart.

What a shame. Beautiful furniture too.

This is what happened to us at Circuit City, we were promised severance and never got it, instead the private equity firm that bought the debt when CC filed for bankruptcy, paid the executives their bonuses and liquidated the company and made a killing from it. Because of the bankruptcy laws, they didn't have to pay back that debt and the money they made from liquidation went straight to paying bonuses to the executives and the company that bought the assets. None of us got anything from it besides a pink slip. Toys R Us was the same way, they were loaded up with debt after they were "saved" by the equity firm and couldn't even manage to pay that debt away to stay solvent and then went bankrupt. Sears had it happen to them with K-mart and guess who was part of that scheme? Steve Mnuchin. Trumps soon to be Secretary of Treasury.

I live in a small townhouse/condo development. A Private equity company wanted to buy us all out for cheap & most are elderly… yea… NO thanks!

Private equity is ruining entire industries. Nursing homes, veterinary practices, etc

I remember I ended was on their mailing list and I would get the catalog about every 3 months or so. I loved the catalog but couldn’t afford a lot of their furniture, etc. I loved how it was an American company with everything being made in the Carolinas.

I hope the employees and customers receive justice in this situation 🙏🏽

I knew the basic story as soon as he said “private equity”.

I only feel bad for the employees and customers who paid for furniture they won't get. It should be illegal to do ppl like that. I dont know whats going to happen in this country when any employee can be treated this way then have to spend months years suing but then lawyers take a huge cut of that. Just a lot..

We bought our first house 10 years ago. We lived in 2 rental homes prior to that. Always bought antique and second hand, thrift furniture. A month after moving into our new home we were invited to a MG+BW fall showroom party. It was a beautiful night. Bartenders dispensing your favorite cocktail. We had been eyeing an Art Deco style bar cabinet for a couple of years. The next cocktail sealed the deal. It was delivered to our house a few weeks later. Everyone who visited us immediately pointed to it. A few years later, I bought 2 chrome and glass pedestal pieces for my husbands birthday. He loves them. I guess we’ll only be buying vintage MG pieces from now on. How long before MG+BW wind up on “Roadshow”?

This is frustrating and bittersweet. My husband and I fell in love with one of their chaise lounge and 'eyed' it for several years in the late 90's. We first saw it at a store and each time we were walking by the store we would go in and take all the throw pillows off and just laid there - Lol. One day it went on sale for 50% off and we couldn't BELIEVE it and bought it!! one of the best furniture investment we ever made! We own classic furniture pieces as well ... Eames, Saarinen, Pollacks and MG & BW is part of our collection. Family members, kiddos and all fought to lay on this chaise - it is the most comfortable, cuddly piece that everyone fell in love with. Until this day, we still have it : ) with all the wear & tears over the years - STILL in very good condition. It's a heirloom piece for sure, in this family anyways.❤

Reminds me of what's happening to some hospitals (even BIG) ones, a Company (Tower) takes them over, then before you know it, it closes. Devastating some communities or even cities. GREED is what this is all about.

PE’s are private banks without the regulations. They have some regulations, but not like banks. Furthermore, PE finance people do not know how to run most companies, in specific industries, especially manufacturing .

No company all of sudden goes bankrupt.

Ironically, the same thing happened in Michigan with a furniture store. A private equity firm bought Art Van Furniture and ran it into the ground, eventually filing for bankruptcy.

I worked for a pre-employment background screening company that was sold to a series of private equity companies. They grew very quickly, then crashed and burned. They laid off a whole bunch of folks, me included. Some, including management, had been there for decades.

Isn't this the type of business Mitt Romney is (was) in? Now he's being touted as a Republican with a conscience. Give me a break.

You can retire at a young age if you invest wisely on time, Most times it amazes me greatly how I moved from an average lifestyle to earning over $63k per month, Utter shock is the word. I have understood a lot in the past few years that there are lots of opportunities in the financial market. The only thing is to know where to invest…

Gold and Mitchell, and especially the private equity millionaires should be funding the employees obligations upon termination. They easily have the money, and it is unethical for them not to pay for the money owed to the employees. Sickening private equity. I do not see Gold volunteering to contribute ANYTHING to the employees. Why can't he chip in some funds?

I am sorry for people like ME! I ordered two special order custom chairs for $7,000 and prepaid the full amount and will never receive those chairs. Unbelievable!

Great reporting. Shocked that it was done on legacy media.

There’s this “rule” of business that you have to expand and make increasing profits, even after years of great profits and expansions. But can a business keep expanding or making an ever increasing profit margin forever? No. They cannot, not without skimming somewhere. That “somewhere” is usually a company’s employees and their benefits. For a businesses’ devoted customers, it’s the promises of fulfillment, warranties and customer service they pledged to their customers. The private equity “pirates” who supposedly cared about the business, take their spoils move on and could care less about its employees & customers.

The kids in the opening intro are adorable…I pray the mom finds a great job….

Hmph...CBS producers, executives, etc, I like the way you're going about with the constructive questioning. You picked great journalists. 👏

There are plenty of companies that have been owner-run since the beginning. Mitchell and Bob just wanted to make the most money they could and get out while they were ahead. Where's Bob in all this? Only Mitchell felt the need to show his face?

Private equity destroys everything. It destroyed the company I used to work for.

Once you hear Private Equity, you know people’s lives will be ruined.

There is no upside to private equity! Private equity is why brick and motor store s are loosing the battle with on line retail. Sears, JC Penny, JoAnn fabrics, Melisa and Doug, Berts bee, so many many more have been all but destroyed by the acquisition of the companies by private equity. Pension plans (by in large own too many shares in these equity firms) need to stop investing in these over powerful equity groups that are solely motivated by greed. I loved Sears, I worked for JoAnn fabrics, while they were owned by private equity, I saw the destruction first hand.

I've now spent almost half my life asking, the same questions... In the mid 90s I was a millionaire, mostly my stock holdings I received and purchased from the oil and gas equipment manufacture I worked for. I earned a moderate income, was given stock as part of nm salary as a district sales manager. One day we are shut down, no pay check locked doors etc... Chapter 11 then 7... bever paid the salaries owed or expenses and our stock devalued then off the market then .. zip nodda nothing... 90,000 shares valued at over 35 dollars a share gone... worthless... Years of hard work, savings.. investment ... gone... in my mid 30s had to start all over again... from scratch... yep this sort of crap happens to hundreds of thousands of people in America every year... The company's assets patents inventory worth millions.. sold off... attorneys paid IRS paid.. court paid... us.... the share holders and employees.. got zero... nothing... we lost everything... The system is set up to protect the wealthy .. banks attorneys courts IRS... but the workers the employees.. the vendors... have np protections at all.

Imagine the supply chain producing all the items worldwide being crushed. North Carolina was only assembling a few materials producing a chair or sofa.

Mitchell Gold was a very down to earth reasonable caring guy; that’s not just an image. He’s not perfect but he was better than most of the furniture folks who had showrooms in High Point. He was real. He was smart. He was hard worker who was never too good to talk to or listen to anybody. I was sorry when he sold. I knew what it would lead to. I’ve seen it over and over again. But he deserved the cash and he deserved a break. I don’t blame him. A good man.

That PNC Bank pulled their loan doesn't surprise me at all. I dealt with PNC through a company I worked for a long time ago. If you're not absolutely huge, they don't give two cents about you. Because of my experience, I will never personally have a bank account with PNC.

During COVID, there was a boom in home furniture sale. How could they have been losing money then?! Something seems amiss there.

Everything is ruined and we are in a depression, but keep spending and living like it's 2005.

PNC did this. I had to deal with PNC when they bought my mortgage, then try multiple times to try to default me. They'd lose payments, fail to pay property taxes. Say my home insurance was insufficient to cancel it and make me in default, change the terms of the loan, change due date, call and harrass days before said due date. I will never deal with them again.

It’s easy to assign blame and find a villain. Private equity.

Research Art Van Furniture in Warren Michigan- similar situation put 5000 out of work in same equity company type purchase.

This is sad. I have two chairs I bought three years ago and so far so good. I have two other chairs, bought from Crate & Barrel twenty years ago, that I think are MG+BW and have held up beautifully so far.

Never heard of this company... until this story.

Folks , watch Other People’s Money with Danny de Vito , as Larry the Liquidator , and Gregory Peck cast as the Robber Baron , Andrew “Jorgy” Jorgensen . The industrialist adamantly refused to give up on his ailing company , New England Wire & Cable , despite aggressive overtures from the NY financier. These furniture manufacturing founders are not off the hook. They can plead Jane Come Lately. They sold their stakeholders down the river.

It’s sick the lack of protections working citizens have while our laws have determined corporations have the same rights as people, (even tho corps have been determined to have the mentality of a psychopath) and way more rights to legally evade appropriate consequences as they make “tough” decisions, when the only part of “tough” falls on the workers & customers. (Boy, wouldn’t it be great if real people could move past their medical debts so easily?)

Regardless of the bankruptcy they should still have to pay their employees severance and refund the buyers money. They have the money they’re just not willing to do the right and honorable thing

They've had a store in Atlanta for a couple decades. I've never seen a single person in it.

dam, an actual story? Thank you LEGIT reporter(s)

Good job on explaining things so well. We play games with geopolitics but every day Americans are losing out daily and struggling.

This is the furniture business.Its been going on for years in some sort of fashion. It's an addicting business.thats challenging and fun. I enjoyed it! Funny thing, the 3 companies that I worked for went belly up too!

I went into a showroom to look around but wasn't ready to buy anything at thst point in my home reno. The clerk full out Pretty Woman'ed me.

Bankruptcy is just another way for a company to make money. Stiff all the people you owe, escape from any binding contracts….. keep all the money you can hide ….. just another business strategy. There’s no such thing as business ethics in capitalism

So scary & sad

Private equity companies will literally eat their young to survive. If your company is acquired by a PE firm, you should start planning your next career move.

I've come to realize that the key to amassing wealth lies in making sound investments. I purchased my first home at the age of 21 for $87,000 and sold it for $197,000. My second home, acquired for $170,000, was later sold for $320,000, and my third property, purchased at $300,000, fetched $589,000, with buyers covering all closing costs and expenses. Not reaching a million before retirement feels like an unfulfilled goal.||

Their first mistake was selling their company to a soulless investment group. It was all down hill from there. Good luck to all the former employees, they're going to find a new job eventually but it sucks to be unemployed.

bro this lady buff as hell 🔥

Personal Opinion: When the Private Equity fund refused to rescue the company then intentionally and immediately moved ownership from North Carolina to Delaware to avoid their legal responsibility to customers and employees shows they intended to defraud the employees and customers. This should not be legal and is what should be contested in North Carolina court. I feel this shows criminal intent to defraud. If the move had happened when they acquired the company months earlier that would be acceptable, but doing it after they made the decision to go bankrupt is bull$&!^. This should be litigated in North Carolina because this is the state (and tax payers) that will be covering the cost of the bankruptcy with unemployment benefits.

Watching this while sitting on my Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams sectional sofa. 😢

The anchor is jacked. She has not missed shoulders or arm days at all!

Find the best former designers. Find the best former operations employees. Find a building. Start a new brand. Start over!

This is great reporting. Thank you!

Great reporting. Thx for this vid

Private equity is a pump and dump venture. Pump all the profits into other venture, and dump what’s left of the carcass

Im not surprised, i never saw anyone in the stores

So sad

This company is clise to my home. All the years I lived here, their parking lot has been empty. This didn't happen overnight. Way too expensive.

I have a couch from RH with Mitchell Gold fabric and I still have it and it’s incredible. Its unfortunate but private equity companies are a scourge.

If he really feels bad about selling the company maybe HE should pay the employees severence if......he really feels bad. But i really doubt that.

This serves as a painful lesson. If you want to start a business and keep it, don’t rely on or trust banks or private equity firms. They’ll betray you and leave you broke when the economy takes a turn for the worse.

Wow, what an insightful case study. Thank you for bringing how PE’s run, and how fragile a business can be in the arms of unscrupulous decision makers.