Barnes & Noble shares took a wild ride in Tuesday trading. At one point (as we wrote yesterday) they were as low as $8.45–the lowest intraday mark since January 1996. But just after 1:00 PM shares took off, briefly breaking the $10 mark and closing at $9.96 a share. Up over 13.5% for the day, almost three million shares traded hands. The company’s stock is extremely sensitive to market movements now, with very high short interest, so the day’s movement could be a short squeeze, or it could represent anticipation of deal news. Yesterday’s BN news actually leaned in the […]
Legal
Briefs: US Trustee Objects to Borders Executive Bonuses; Indigo Faces Its ‘Starbucks Moment’; Kobo European Push; and More
Last week Tracy Hope Davis of the US Trustee’s Office filed an objection to Borders’ plan to pay executives up to $8.3 million in bonuses on the grounds that the bonus motion “is premature and should not be granted.” Borders had characterized the bonus plan as “providing necessary incentives” but the Trustee’s Office felt “there is no information that explains what extra services the insiders would perform beyond their ordinary job duties or a detailed description of the nexus between the supposed incentives and the payment trigger.” In addition, Davis said, the motion “provides no financial performance metrics nor are […]
Briefs: A Million eBook Sales for ‘Dragon Tattoo’; Legal Action Against Breakaway Angus & Robertson Franchises; and More
Knopf says that Stieg Larsson‘s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has sold over a million eBook copies, and adds to us that The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest will reach that same milestone next week. (No word, however, on which e-vendor sold the millionth copy.) NYT Earlier this week a number of Barnes & Noble executives each disposed a small amount of stock at $9.18 per share, according to a number of SEC filings. Leading the group was Stephen Riggio, who decreased his total holdings by 3,136 shares to 96,924 shares. REDGroup administrators Ferrier Hodgson have taken their […]
A Look at Borders’ Liquidation Process as More Leases Are Rejected
Bloomberg takes a closer look at the Borders liquidation process and how it’s being handled by Hilco, who agreed to pay Borders 85.75 percent of the “cost value” of all merchandise, somewhere between $180.6 million and $204 million. But one of Hilco’s competitors in the liquidation auction, Great American Group director Scott Carpenter, bowed out because the firm “didn’t think you could achieve those values and make a profit.” Previously Borders told the bankruptcy court they expected liquidation sales to bring in about $175 million. Bloomberg In addition, federal bankruptcy court filings indicate the approval of nine Borders lease rejections in […]
BAMM Enters New Credit Agreement As Executives Add Stock
Books-A-Million stock hit a 52-week low last week on the heels of disappointing fourth quarter and annual earnings, following a pattern similar to Barnes & Noble’s though less dramatic. Shares fell more than 8 percent on Friday, closing at $4.10 a share, and were down 20 percent in the three days after their earnings report. A number of company executives added shares at the bargain price of a penny per share according to a series of SEC filings, by exercising options. CEO Clyde Anderson led the group, adding 116,840 shares, boosting his total holdings to more than 1.8 million shares. The […]
Borders Asks Court to Authorize $8.3 Million in Executive Bonus Payments
In papers filed last week, Borders asked a federal bankruptcy court to authorize as much as $8.3 million in bonus payments to company executives – including up to $1.7 million to CEO Michael Edwards. Seventeen executives are covered by the largest bonus program, which could add between $4.7m and $7.1m, while a second $1.2 million bonus program covers 25 “director-level” managers that court papers say are “critical to the debtors’ reorganization and to ongoing business.” The company said that 70% of its top executives have been with Borders for 18 months or less, and that bonuses were not paid at […]