March 19, 2008
"You see what happens, Larry?"
Posted by pete at March 19, 2008 10:05 PM
Oh, now this just breaks my heart:
Borders, the nation's second-largest bookseller, said Thursday it may put itself up for sale and has lined up $42.5 million in financing to help the chain continue operations.
Borders has lost market share both to online companies and to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
[...]
After postponing its scheduled fourth-quarter earnings results Wednesday, the company reported net income of $64.7 million, or $1.10 a share, compared with a loss of $73.6 million, or $1.22, during the same period last year.Revenue fell 2 percent to $1.35 billion, from $1.37 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profits of $1.42 per share on sales of $1.37 billion.
Quarterly results included a $7 million loss from the sale of Irish and British businesses for $13 million.
In yet another sign of pressures on retailers nationwide, Borders suspended quarterly dividends, which it will plow into operations.
[...]
Ann Arbor-based Borders said J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. have been retained as the company's financial advisers to assist the company as it explores strategic alternatives.The company said it can give no assurances that a transaction of any kind will occur.
Revenues, shmevenues. Everybody knows this is spectral vengeance for the W. Alabama store knocking down my beloved Ale House.
The Woman’s response was an emphatic “Good fucking riddance,” because she hates her some Borders; not out of some hippie loathing for chain stores, but because she’s a public librarian.
According to her, Borders is the standard which libraries nationwide try to emulate. The moves towards headsets and uniforms and coffee lounges in libraries are annoying enough, says she, but the biggest transgression is the push to scrap the Dewey Decimal System entirely because “Borders doesn’t use it.” She hears that litany from The Powers That Be at every big staff and organizational meeting. Some public libraries have actually done away with Dewey—and more and more are shifting that way—and replaced it with little signs that read Westerns and Self-Help and Humor, in an attempt “to be more big business-like to better serve their customers” (another choice bit).
I understand her ire.
I thought it was preemptive karma for the eventual demolition of the Alabama BookStop.
Hey honky, check this out:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/85-the-wire/
Just wanted to do a quick drive by shout out to Dick Jones and his buddy Ed up in the corner of your blog. ROBOCOP was probably the last good movie Paul V will ever direct, and beyond all that, rates as maybe one of six movies ever made that is actually good, intelligent science fiction, as well as a fantastic blow ‘em up action pic. Ten minutes into the future the world may suck HARD, but at least Officer Murphy will always be around to blast Reagan era drug pushing sociopaths into carbonized fragments. Nice shootin’, son.
My stepmom has worked for Borders for 19 years and was recently laid off as part of their recent restructuring. We knew they were in trouble, but maybe not this much. Youch.
Wait, are we in a recession?