It was seeking A$122 million in a rights issue, yet retail investors took up only $3.7 million of their entitlement.
The company was offering shares to investors at 94c, so when the Myer share price fell to 90c two days after the offer opened at the start of September the offer was in trouble.
There are also concerns chief executive Richard Umbers and his team will not be able to execute the A$600 million turnaround strategy for the retail business. The plan involves shutting down underperforming stores, using well-known brands such as Topshop, Calvin Klein and Oscar de la Renta to drive traffic to its stores and online, and investing in visual merchandising, fitting rooms and service. But share market volatility and concern about the turnaround are only part of the story.
Mum-and-dad investors, as they're patronisingly referred to, have lost patience with the company.
Myer was bought by private equity firm Texas Pacific Group in 2006 for A$1.4 billion.
The following year it announced first half earnings before interest and tax up 84 per cent on the previous year, with profit margins up at 6.8 per cent compared with 3.9 per cent the year before.
In 2009 the company floated off the back of that seemingly remarkable change in fortune with a market capitalisation of about A$2.4 billion - a billion higher than just three years earlier.
But as so often happens when sharemarket investors buy business from private equity firms, the good results didn't last.
The shares floated at A$4.10 each five years ago so investors are justified in feeling hard done by, with the stocks hitting a record low of 85c last week.
It is said 100,000 people attended Sidney Myer's funeral in 1934.
It's doubtful that Myer's former private equity owners would get such a turnout.
The dining room New Zealand dairy farmers have done very well out of the rising Asian demand for quality foods, but as Australia's Nufarm shows, there's more than one way to skin a cow.
After several years of poor performance, Australian pesticide and seed company Nufarm has produced a strong result.
The company reported a full-year profit of $43 million, up 15 per cent on the year before. Those numbers are even more impressive given the company incurred about A$74 million in restructuring costs. It has been closing plants and cutting jobs as it tries to be more globally competitive in its manufacturing operations.
The company's shares jumped nearly 10 per cent on the day its profits were announced last week, despite the broader market shedding about 2 per cent of its value.
Chief executive Greg Hunt took the helm in February and immediately went on a A$116 million cost-cutting drive to push more efficiencies through the company and see it reach its potential. It looks as if the move is already paying dividends, with Nufarm's rise in profits and profit margins coming despite subdued market conditions.
Nufarm is in a competitive sector, but one with huge opportunities.
By 2030, Asia will be home to three billion middle class people " 10 times more than North America and five times more than Europe.
As these consumers become wealthier, they will demand better quality food, including more beef and dairy and more packaged foods, as well as alcohol and soft drinks. The Department of Agriculture estimates that demand for food in Asia will increase faster than anywhere else in the world, doubling between 2007 and 2050.
This is important for Nufarm because as demand for food rises, so too does demand for products which help farmers create that food.
It's another way for investors to tap "the dining boom" in Asia while avoiding the volatility that comes with investing in commodity producers. These do very well when their commodity is in short supply, perhaps because of bad weather elsewhere in the world, but can see their profits plunge in time of oversupply. After all, regardless of what happens to the price of milk, wheat or beef, farmers will still need to plant and protect their crops.
