>>36619636It's not exactly best to say that they're "in debt", which is actually technically true, but all companies carry debt as a form of financing, and as one portion of two parts in what's called their capital structure. In publicly traded companies, this is the combination of direct financing for their operations via loans/notes/bonds and indirect financing via equity, or stocks. True, they're "in debt", but for most companies it isn't an issue as long as they're operational, because it's just simply a temporary means of financing themselves with direct liquid cash that they don't have on hand at the immediate moment. The purpose of companies indebting themselves is to pay it off gradually (with interest) while they get the money now.
It is a double edged sword, however. Unlike equity, debt does carry the weight of legal consequence, and it can and will be called upon with legal authority when the time comes and the situation calls for it. Debt can induced forceful liquidation in a company, whereas equity does not. In order of precedence, when money comes due, no matter the situation, it goes such
>Uncle Sam in the form of taxes>Banks and other institutions who are owed their debts>Preferred stock holders>Common stock holders>Everyone else who has some sort of other stake in the company (i.e. employees and such). 