It should be no surprise that the war of words continues in the proxy fight between Ron Burkle and Barnes & Noble, with both sides embarrassing themselves in exaggerting the situation and claiming the mantel of “independence” to which neither is entitled. The most notable part of Yucaipa’s latest response from yesterday to accusations from Barnes & Noble is their continued insistence that “Yucaipa has no plan to acquire control of your company.” They ask why nominating three directors on a nine-person board threatens control of the company, and note that “in a March meeting with two of Barnes & […]
Bookstores
Borders Better Idea? Paid Rewards Program
Back in actual bookselling, today Borders announced a new solution to their longtime “rewards” problem. For years the company has hailed their tens of millions of enrolled rewards program members as a key to a planned turnaround, but they have regularly failed to convert those memberships into meaningful results. Now they will follow Barnes & Noble’s approach with a second paid Borders Rewards Plus program. A $20 annual membership will provide “savings on nearly all Borders merchandise, and free shipping on virtually all online orders.” The enhanced discounts include “40 percent off the list price of hardcover bestsellers, 20 percent […]
eReaders: Price Cuts and Kindle in Staples
Borders is trying to keep up with the price cuts on ereaders, lowering the tab on their Kobo reader $20, down to $129. They are dropping the Aluratek Libre price by a similar amount, now at $99.99. Separately, the AP reports that Staples will join Target in carrying all three models of Kindle readers in their stores this fall.
Today’s Book Chain News In Perspective: BN and Borders Are Both Closing Big City Stores–And One of Them Is Selling Teddy Bears
As you may know, Barnes & Noble announced yesterday that they will close their big 60,000-square-foot Lincoln Center store in New York at the end of the next January after being unable to negotiate an acceptable lease after 15 years in the location. Spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating said “the increased rent that would be required to stay in the location makes it economically impossible for us to extend the lease.” (The NY Daily News cites real estate experts who expect that the asking price will be double to triple what BN has been paying, at $250 to $300 a square […]
Paper Claims Investors May Push for Waterstone’s Spin-Off
The UK offers two grain-of-salt stories today. In the first, the Guardian has suddenly noticed that leading bookselling chain Waterstone’s has been struggling and declares that “rebel shareholders” want HMV to consider selling the unit if margins do not improve soon. Who are these rebels and what kind of stake do they hold? Um, they cite one anonymous shareholder, “”Although Waterstone’s accounts for around a quarter of HMV’s turnover, it has a perfectly viable business without books. The day of reckoning is fast approaching.” And a second unnamed “investor” (which is different how from a shareholder?) says, “another investor said: […]
BN Proxy Filing Every Bit As Colorful As Burkle’s
Barnes & Noble filed their revised proxy documents with the SEC, angrily accusing investor Ron Burkle of….daring to want to buy more of the company. As asserted before, their largest concern is that Burkle’s Yucaipa and his friends at Aletheia want “to gain creeping control of Barnes & Noble…without paying a control premium.” The company says that raising the limit on their poison pill from 20 percent to 30 percent would allow the two companies to ally in taking over the bookseller. As we have pointed out before, they also question the extent to which Burkle’s other two nominees to […]