Recently heard the shocking story of Debenhams.
Bought by private equity which sold all the stores and then made the company lease them back. Just took the money from the sales as dividends. Asset stripped and destroyed by debt. The way of things are a political choice not an inevitability.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/private-equity-is-predatory-capitalism-with-a-long-trail-of-destruction/