No, the shareholders do not owe the debt. That's completely wrong. And the shareholders did not choose the bankruptcy, that would be monumentally stupid since shareholders always get screwed in a bankruptcy. More often it is the secured creditors who force a company into a bankruptcy if it is forced at all.
You apparently haven't followed this bankruptcy. The judge did indeed put the company into Chapter 7 after reviewing the company's "plan" and its operational history. And it is not any sort of "automatic part" of a chapter 11 bankruptcy, it only happens if the company cannot put forward a "plan" that is viable and that is accepted by the creditors/stakeholders who get to vote on it.
The shareholders didn't borrow the money, the company did. That's why some individuals choose to form LLC's or other corporations when they go into business, it keeps them and their assets from being collateralized by creditors who lend the business money.
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