CBU, $177.6M Loss
I agree with your bottom line in #102397. However, if you buy razors for
$5 and sell them for $7.50 you may nevertheless break even or lose money
if your corporate overhead eats up the $2.50. You then can take a tax
write-off for dumping the razors, cutting your taxes but only reducing
your overall loss, not wiping it out. Then again, you're probably hoping
that news of your bargain $7.50 razors will add up to some favorable
publicity for your store and improved future sales. All those buyers may
come back for blades! <g> Meanwhile, the employees are getting paid and
the doors stay open (more or less) but the stockholders are getting a
smaller dividend or none at all. That, of course, can't last forever.
It's a truism in the computer business that companies often write off
older stock. Of course, Steve Ahlstrom makes the salient point that
perhaps because of poor planning C= had too much stock on hand to begin
with.