Did a Major U.S. Retailer Just Collapse and Nobody Noticed It?

Rite Aid, which operates around 4,600 drugstores in 31 states and the District of Columbia, is about to be taken over by Walgreen Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA). The press is treating the deal as just another corporate buyout, but to me, it sounds as if a very desperate Rite Aid effectively sold itself to Walgreens to avoid the humiliation of bankruptcy or the death spiral