COVID-19–related issues are squeezing storage conglomerate StorCentric as it seeks to reorganize the company and look for a buyer for its business, TechTarget.com reported. On June 20, StorCentric filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a petition filed in northern California's U.S. Bankruptcy Court. In a separate petition filed the same day, Drobo, the external storage company that is part of StorCentric, also filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The extent of the reorganization is unclear, but in a statement StorCentric said that it plans to continue providing service to customers. He added that StorCentric acquired several companies before the COVID-19 pandemic. When supply chain issues hit, the company didn't have time to effectively cobble its acquisitions together. The supply chain issues appear to have affected StorCentric early in the pandemic. In a March 2020 blog post by CEO Mihir Shah, StorCentric leadership suggested the pandemic and its effects on the supply chain were negatively affecting its business. By July 2021, the pandemic had taken "a devastating impact on the company's business," shutting down its assembly and integration facility, according to the Chapter 11 first-day declaration statement. In the first quarter of 2022, several special purpose acquisition companies approached StorCentric for a potential acquisition, going so far as signing a letter of intent before the funding fell through.
