Depends on what "worth more" means. From a purely monetary standpoint liquidation that might be true. But giving VCs who are likely already rich more money vs. taking away peoples jobs isn't always the best way to "repurpose" money.
> Its debt was downgraded to junk bond status in January of 2005, at a time when Amazon's sales were just 4% of their current level.
And then it says:
> A year later the company was taken private by KKR, Bain Capital and real estate firm Vornado.
The fact that their bonds were downgraded to junk a year before tells me that Toys R Us was already in trouble by the time private equity stepped in.