The 5 Dumbest Things on Wall Street: July 23

RadioShack Smackdown

Forgive us mall rats, but it's time we took a whack at RadioShack (Stock Quote: RSH) and the buyout rumors surrounding it.

Shares of RadioShack got smacked Tuesday, losing more than 7% after reports surfaced that at least two highfalutin' private-equity shops are no longer interested in purchasing the low-end consumer electronics seller. Takeover rumors have been circling around RadioShack for months, sending the stock seesawing and creating false hopes for long-suffering investors. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Blackstone Group and TPG Capital are unlikely to pursue a potential bid for the retailer, citing sources familiar with the matter. Previously, Reuters said that Bain Capital also pulled out of the auction.

It was also rumored that rival Best Buy expressed interest, although we here at The Five Dumbest Lab never understood why it would buy RadioShack other than to put down its mangy old competitor for the same reasons that Travis shot Old Yeller.

Look, we love "The Shack," as the company laughably now wants to be called. That said, we also loved buying albums at Record World and playing Punch-Out in the mall game room many moons ago. Sadly, we don't do those things anymore. Like the private-equity firms -- which most likely would have leveraged the company to death anyway -- we've moved on.

And we hope RadioShack moves on too because its batteries are clearly running out.

Dumb-o-meter score: 75 -- The Shack needs to get on track, and private-equity debt would only derail it.