Why can't management be fired instead? Why punish the above groups for the mistakes of leadership?

Management is also fired in this instance. What you are probably suggesting is that management should have been fired sooner and replaced with competent ones. That is the job of the board, who is the proxy for shareholders. Since the board didn't do its job properly, their shares are also going to zero.

Again, working as intended. There should be no free lunch or bailouts for incompetent work.

	▲	vrganj 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The people being punished aren't the board or the management, those will fail upwards to other cushy roles. The people being punished are the workers and the consumers. If the board is unable to bring their house in order, the state should fire them, not let their incompetence ruin the lives of the working class. I agree with GP that this is "capitalism working as it should", e.g. inflicting cruelty on working people while funnelling more wealth upwards. I disagree with the assessment of that being a good thing.