The bankruptcy saga of REDGroup Retail appears to be in its closing stages thanks to a number of developments over the weekend. Administrators Ferrier Hodgson failed to reach an agreement with creditors on a reorganization plan, laid off an additional 34 employees at REDGroup’s Melbourne headquarters, and on Monday informed suppliers that the company’s remaining stores in Australia would not accept stock after June 1, with any orders made on books not yet delivered should be cancelled. In a letter to landlords and suppliers, REDGroup’s administrators said they had hoped to find a way to keep the remaining 9 Borders […]
Bookstores
Creditors Oppose Borders Bid For More Time, and Seattle’s Best Objects to Contract Cancellation
Borders’ unsecured creditors committee objected to the bookseller’s bid for more time to come up with a plan to exit Chapter 11 in a court filing Thursday afternoon on several grounds. They are “gravely concerned” that extending the exclusivity period up to 120 days “could be detrimental to the interests of the debtors’ general unsecured creditors” and would only work if the committee itself could have the right to “file and solicit a plan at any time” (the unstated purpose of which would likely be to ask for liquidation, though they cite cases in which creditors did draft their own […]
ABA’s Teicher Calls For “New Business Practices” to Sustain Stores
At the ABA’s annual general meeting CEO Oren Teicher noted the already announced gain in membership – with 105 new members, it’s the biggest increase in some time – but didn’t mince words about how independents “are living through a period of unprecedented change and staggering challenges” and that running a bookstore “can no longer be business-as-usual.” The challenge facing indies in the wake of Apple selling almost 20 million iPads in the past year is that “each of those iPads is also a full-color, live demonstration of the tug-of-war between books and competing media for a consumer’s attention.” The […]
So Ron Burkle Thinks Barnes & Noble Stock Will Rise
Investor Ron Burkle has been noticeably quiet since Barnes & Noble announced the interest received last week from Liberty Media in buying the company, but it turns out he was talking with his wallet. In the required SEC filing, Burkle disclosed that his Yucaipa companies purchased another 603,000 shares yesterday, paying $18.489 a share. Though Burkle is restricted by the company’s poison pill from acquiring more than 20 percent of shares, he had a small amount of room to buy. According to the filing, his 11,894,213 shares comprise 19.74 percent of shares outstanding. He could still buy another 150,000 shares or […]
Malone Explains to Shareholders Why Liberty Bid For BN
At a meeting with Liberty Media shareholders in Denver Monday to approve the planned spinoff of Liberty Capital and Starz, chairman John Malone explained why the company offered $17 a share for Barnes & Noble last week. He believes there’s a bright future for BN, and not just in terms of its digital growth: “I’ve been a Barnes & Noble customer myself for many, many years. The stores will shift around, but there will be a physical presence for a long, long time to come, and it will be a profitable presence.” Malone expects negotiations could take months rather than […]
In April, Borders Has $32.1 Million Operating Loss–And $132.2 Million Total Loss
Borders reported sales of $101 million for the month of April and “other revenue” (primarily from the liquidators) of $72.1 million–producing an operating loss of $32.1 million. But they lost another $98.4 million in “reorganization items” that includes “amounts related to estimated claims arising from the closure of certain stores and the rejection of related leases.” The total one-month tally is sales of $173.1 million, and a net loss of $132.2 million. The monthly operating loss appears to be growing–for most of March it was $24.3 million, and for most of February it was $28.3 million.