But none of them were in as immediate dire straits as Neiman Marcus, which has both an enormous debt burden - about US$4.8 billion (S$6.85 billion), thanks in part to a leveraged buyout in 2013 by the owners Ares Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board - and a raft of expensive rents in the most high-profile shopping destinations, signed during boom times. In late March, Neiman stopped accepting new merchandise and furloughed a large portion of its approximately 14,000 employees as the rumours of bankruptcy began to swirl. Its chief executive, Geoffroy van Raemdonck, announced he was waiving his salary for April.