It’s hard to entertain sale offers for a company while investors await a ruling on corporate governance and worry whether a well-heeled activist shareholder is mounting a proxy fight to remove the founder and chairman from the board. With the threat of an imminent proxy fight filing looming, the Barnes & Noble board is reportedly close to finalizing a peace deal with Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa that would settle his lawsuit instead of leaving it to the judge in Delaware. The expected deal as reported by the WSJ (and then the NYT and others) would add three new directors to the […]
Bookstores
Legacy Books Partner Tanner Will Open “A Real Bookstore” In Mid-November
As she hinted when the closing on Legacy Books in Plano, TX was announced recently, managing partner Teri Tanner will open a new store, called A Real Bookstore, in nearby Fairview in mid-November. It’s billed as her vision for a “post-recession bookstore.” Though smaller and less flashy than Legacy, it will still have about 20,000 square feet, on a single level. The new location is in a more traditional shopping area, will face traffic directly, and is closer to where core customers live. Tanner, who will be the sole owner this time around, plans a big children’s section with dedicated […]
More Borders Cuts, This Time at Headquarters
After recently announced cuts of another 100 jobs at their Tennessee distribution center, Borders Group has cut staff again, returning to the rolls at their Ann Arbor headquarters. Spokesperson Mary Davis confirmed their were “job eliminations” to the Ann Arbor newspaper but declined to indicate a number. There have been approximately 650 people working out of the Ann Arbor offices, after 88 corporate workers were laid off in January. Davis said: “As we aggressively work to restore the financial health of the company, we have reorganized core areas of our business to ensure that we have the necessary resources in […]
More Concerns about Australia/New Zealand Bookselling Giant; McNally Jackson Still Waiting for Espresso to Brew
We noted in late July that RedGroup–the dominant bookseller in Australia and New Zealand under the Whitcoulls, Angus & Robertson and Borders ANZ operations–was talking to its lenders about getting a waiver from an expected breach of their borrowing covenants. (Even so, they were reportedly projecting ebitda of approximately $25 million AU for their fiscal year ending in late August.) A new story in Crikey cites industry sources whom claim the group “has been forced to jack up prices, increase returns and extend trading terms with its suppliers.” One anonymous publisher says the chains have asked for 120 days to […]
Today’s Barnes News: Riggio’s eVision, Burkle’s Friends, Cramer, and Private Equity
After finishing the day up almost 20 percent on volume of close to 6 million shares, Barnes & Noble stock slid slightly in early trading this morning while markets consider the board’s news (and as the overall market itself declined). For some people, when James Cramer advises Mad Money viewers to sell Barnes & Noble stock (“let’s take some profits in that one”–? what profits?), that’s a buy sign. The WSJ offers a closer look at chairman Len Riggio’s electronic ambitions and the extent to which he has re-engaged in the business overall this year. “By putting together an investment […]
Bookselling: Texas’s Ambitious Legacy Books to Close August 14
One of the biggest and flashiest independent bookstores to open in years–Legacy Books in Plano, TX just north of Dallas–will close later this month. Managing partner Teri Tanner “said the store’s investors made the decision to close.” The 24,000-square-foot store opened in the midst of the economic collapse, in November 2008. As the Dallas Morning News writes, “it was one of a few independent bookstores of its size to open in the US in decades.” Tanner tells the newspaper she has started Double T Consulting, a company “dedicated to pursuing independent bookselling and other retail opportunities” in North Texas. They […]