Williams debt rating had a number of downgrades by rating agency, which combined with the increasing required yields of corporate bonds, is already adding up to a very high cost of debt for the company even on the open debt markets. Moreover, an ongoing crisis on the financial markets is making it almost impossible to find investors willing to lend funds to the already distressed company. The telecommunication subsidiary of Williams recently went bankrupt and one of the major businesses, the energy trading, is in decline.