On the heels of Borders suing marketing firm Next Jump over trademark infringement now Borders is a defendant in a new complaint related to the company’s layoff procedures post-litigation. Former employee Jared Pinsker, who worked in Borders’ Ann Arbor headquarters, said in a suit filed last Friday in federal bankruptcy court that Borders did not adequately give employees notice when they were let go between July 23 and August 23. Not doing so, per the complaint, violates the WARN Act, which requires employers to give 60 days notice before conducting layoffs of at least 33 percent of a company’s work […]
Borders
Borders Sues Vendor For Allegedly Steering Borders Rewards Customers To Separate Website
As Borders prepares to auction off what it hopes will prove to be valuable intellectual property, including its Borders Rewards customer data, the company has gone to court to protect those assets from infringement by a former Borders vendor. The complaint filed in New York bankruptcy court charges that Next Jump, the company hired in 2007 to operate Bordersrewardperks.com–a website to provide rewards from third-party vendors to Borders customers–has used its access to the book chain’s customer list to steer half a million people or more to a separate website, OO.com, owned by Next Jump. Significantly given the upcoming auction, Borders says […]
BAMM Gets OK To Take Over Borders Store Leases; Promotes Finley To President & COO
On Monday afternoon in federal bankruptcy court Judge Martin Glenn gave his approval for Books-A-Million to take over 14 of Borders’ store leases by September 20 after some objections, mostly to do with how much money BAMM must pay landlords, were worked out. “I’m glad that everyone was able to work out the objections,” Judge Glenn said, according to a report from Dow Jones. Books-A-Million also announced that Terrance Finley had been promoted to president and coo of the company, replacing Clyde Anderson, who relinquished the role (though he remains ceo and chairman.) Finley was previously EVP & chief merchandising […]
BAMM Now Set to Buy 14 Borders Store Leases
Books-A-Million’s original plans to buy as many as 35 stores from Borders fell through in July, but now the two retailers are trying again – albeit for a smaller number of stores this time. Documents filed in federal bankruptcy court late Wednesday indicate that BAMM has reached a deal for $934,209 to buy 14 superstores and small format stores from Borders, as well as assume responsibility for the leases. That amount comprises $184,209 to pay for cure costs to the landlords (which BAMM would pay upon the deal closing) and $750,000 for the stores and lease agreements themselves. The deal […]
Borders Gets Court Approval On Auctions for Intellectual Property and Real Estate Leases
Borders received approval from federal bankruptcy court Wednesday to auction its name (as well as the brand names of once-operational subsidiaries Waldenbooks and Brentano’s), trademarks, website, and email lists on September 14, Reuters reported. Borders has enlisted Streambank to manage the sale of Borders’ intellectual property assets, with the firm’s principal David Peress noting in a statement that in addition to its marks and e-commerce assets, “Borders is the holder of a contiguous block of IPv4 addresses which it seeks to transfer to a qualified buyer.” A stalking horse bidder for the IP assets will be named in advance of […]
Borders CEO Edwards and CFO Henry ‘Terminated’ As Liquidation Continues
Borders’ 399 stores won’t finish the liquidation process until September, but ceo and president Mike Edwards and cfo Scott Henry won’t be around to see the chain through till the end. The two executives’ employment with the company was “terminated” on July 29, according to a Thursday filing with the SEC. Current svp restructuring Holly Felder Etlin, also a managing director of AlixPartners, has been promoted to president, and chief accounting officer and controller Glen Tomaszewski was appointed treasurer. In the same filing, Borders reported they have also paid off in full their obligations to DIP lenders under the amended […]