Barnes & Noble’s ongoing “exploration of strategic alternatives” — which we all know by now is code for being for sale – appears to be nearing an end without a buyer. Five unnamed sources with apparent knowledge of the bidding process told Bloomberg yesterday that “interest from at least seven potential buyers waned after the first round of bidding,” and “private-equity firms and strategic bidders have backed away from the auction” after getting cold feet about BN’s digital sales prospects, at least in relation to its larger, market cap-rich competitors Amazon, Apple and Google. The auction will continue “for […]
Finance
Earnings, Comp Sales Slide for BAMM
Fourth quarter sales at Books-A-Million fell 6.7 percent on a same-store basis and 2.6 percent overall to $153.1 million percent, but net income of dropping by nearly half to $6.8 million, compared to $11.9 million a year ago. For the full year sales of $495 million were down 2.7 percent, declining 4.9 percent on a same-store basis, and net income dropping to $8.9 million. The board authorized a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share. Chief Executive and President Clyde Anderson said in a statement that the declining fiscal year results “illustrate a dynamic and rapidly changing retail environment for […]
Finally, Judge Chin Decides: The Google Book Settlement Is Rejected
Nearly a year after Judge Denny Chin was confirmed to the 2nd Circuit Appeals Court, and more than 13 months after his hearing on the Google Book Settlement, he finally ruled. the settlement “is not fair, adequate or reasonable” and is rejected. While Judge Chin outlines a number of concerns, he notes one fundamental change that could make it acceptable: change it from opt-out to opt-in, and Chin says, “I urge the parties to consider revising the ASA accordingly.” Of course that would literally change everything, not only removing the settlement’s attempt to provide a legal and business-driven solution to identifying […]
The Next Two Questions on BKS
For the most of the day Friday Barnes & Noble’s stock looked likely to end its rotten week on an upswing, moving up and appearing ready to break a four-day losing streak with heavy volume. But then in the very final minutes of trading, three big sell orders of over a million shares each (or approximately 4 million shares in all) came to market and took the share price down sharply again. BN’s stock closed down another 4 percent for the day, and over 24 percent for the week, finishing at another new low of $8.89 a share. The two […]
Stop?: Barnes & Noble Tries to Find Its Level
The bad week for Barnes & Noble’s stock continued yesterday, with another drop of almost 4 percent on heavy volume, to close below $10 a share for the first time. The continuing fall was sufficient to finally attract the notice of the WSJ’s Heard on the Street column. They’d still like to see BN close more stores, and blame Len Riggio at least in part for taking more cash in the 2009 merger of BN College than the entire combined company is worth in today’s market. (The company has a current market cap of approximately $550 million.) The stock opened […]
Borders Gets Extra Time to Renegotiate Leases
In Tuesday morning’s Omnibus hearing, Manhattan bankruptcy court judge Martin Glenn granted the bulk of Borders’ motions, including an extension of the deadline to renegotiate existing leases by an additional 90 days to September 14. The court also gave final approval on the $505 million credit facility pending several changes are made, including a provision giving the unsecured creditors committee $125,000, up from $50,000, to fund investigations of claims of secured lenders. Judge Glenn empathized with part of the creditors’ objection, noting that “when I look at the incremental cost of new money coming in, it’s pretty steep,” but he […]