Zombie companies, also known as zombie firms, are organizations that continue operating despite its liabilities exceeding its assets, its inability to service its loans, or its ability to repay the interest on its debts but not the principal. Zombie firms are not common in the US, but they are present—mostly in the manufacturing and retail sectors. They typically rise in periods of economic compression, and fall during periods of economic expansion, and take bailouts in order to continue their operations.