Given the litany of negative numbers in the rest of the article, it’s hard to believe that this will actually happen, but at least the guy’s got the right strategy.
What’s ironic is that Borders was, at one time, a world-class retailer, a pioneer in the use of information technology.
Ron Marshall acknowledged that Borders faces “lots of challenges,” but said that the company has the resources to become a world-class retailer. His vision for the chain is to return it to its roots–a chain “that caters to book lovers, where a customer will walk out smarter than when she walked in.”
via Despite Big Loss, Marshall Confident of Borders’s Future – 3/31/2009 2:23:00 PM – Publishers Weekly.
Since the Chronicle’s comment policy rather perversely prevents them from allowing comments on articles like this which are of obvious local interest, let me say here, thank you Borders Group, for your efforts in destroying 96% of your market capitalization in the last year.
If there is a way to save Borders, surely it is to cut out all the CDs, to cut out all the ancillary products, to cut out international operations, and to focus on being a full-service bookstore in the US. Amazingly, Foresee results still list Borders and Barnes and Noble as global leaders in customer satisfaction, and Borders still has great bookstore locations in most major US cities. Build on what you have.
The Ann Arbor Chronicle » A2: Borders Group
… a press release from Borders Group that announces a new CEO and other management changes at the beleaguered Ann Arbor-based bookstore chain. Ron Marshall, founder of the private equity firm Wildridge Capital Management, has replaced George Jones as president and CEO. Jones had been in that job since July 2006. In a statement, Borders board chairman Larry Pollock says: “Progress has been made by Borders Group over recent quarters within the challenging economy to reduce debt, improve cash flow, cut expenses, enhance inventory productivity and improve margins, but it is imperative that the company more aggressively attack these initiatives to address its long-term future.” Borders also reported a double-digit sales decline for the holiday period ending Jan. 3
Wow, this is horrible news for Borders shareholders. What a sad, desperate company it has become. Sell.
Borders Hopes for 8th Day Film Deal – 7/15/2008 12:48:00 PM – Publishers Weekly
[Borders pr] said CEO George Jones and executive v-p of merchandising and marketing Rob Gruen “are managing the film rights.” (Jones and Gruen both have backgrounds in retailing; Jones previously ran Warner Brothers studio stores, and Gruen worked at Target and at Warner Brothers.) The statement added that even with the potential film sale, Borders will continue to focus on its core book business and in executing its cash flow and expense reduction initiatives.
wfzimmerman’s review: “My dad spent the better part of his adult life studying two countries, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, that no longer exist. He adapted quite nimbly as things changed.
I did the index for this book.”
Princeton Univ Pr (1987), Hardcover, 167 pages
tags: yugoslavia
mediabistro.com: GalleyCat
Would Borders Merge With B&N?
What are we to make of the fact that the Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund revealed in a recent SEC filing that it owns shares in both Borders and Barnes & Noble? David Polonitza of SeekingAlpha focuses on Pershing’s track record for shareholder activism to speculate (very wildly) on the possibilities of a merger between “the number #1 and #2 big box book stores in the country.” He explains the logic behind the hypothetical move: “There would be considerable cost savings in merging the two companies with respect to distribution, management, along with the increased purchasing power. Each company’s online presence is still not competitive and they might fare better combined…a much stronger competitor to the likes of Amazon than they are apart.”
From a cost-cutting corporate shark point of view, why not? The two companies have essentially duplicate infrastructures and there is no really significant differentiation in their value propositions. Why not put all the stores under a common management and get rid of half the infrastructure?
Just as long as it’s not the Borders half they get rid of … that would be a horrendous blow to Ann Arbor, already reeling from the loss of Pfizer.
Technorati Tags: Borders, Pfizer, Ann Arbor, BGP
I took my son Ben to Borders last night to read children’s books and drink hot chocolate. When we walked in the door, the front table had a few copies of Gary Chapman’s The Five Languages of Apology. I could hardly believe a book I helped edit is now on the front pages at my nearest bookstore! This is the fun part of writing.
PublishersWeekly.com
PW:
Borders Group announced earlier today that Greg Josefowicz will retire as chairman, president and CEO by the end of fiscal 2007, which ends Feb. 3, 2008. Josefowicz joined Borders in November 1999 as president and CEO and was promoted to chairman in 2002. Josefowicz, 53, gave no reason for his decision to step down.
Borders is in play.
Apparently, TICKLE THE DUCK is everything that PAT THE BUNNY is not. Sort of the ANTI-PAT.
Publishers Weekly reports:
Tickle the Duck! is a novelty book that has taken its publisher, Little, Brown, by surprise. Starring a testy duck who warns readers not to tickle him, the touch-and-feel title was originally scheduled to be published next February, to coincide with spring and Easter. But once the sales reps and then book buyers saw it and began expressing their enthusiasm, February seemed too far away.
According to Celeste Risko, Little, Brown’s national accounts manager, as soon as she presented the book to Borders, Sarah Jagenow, one of the chain’s children’s buyers, told her, “Oh no, you have to move this up.” Jagenow predicted to Risko that Tickle the Duck! could be a big holiday gift title at its stores. “Everyone at BGI has fallen in love with the duck,” says Risko. “The book appeals to both kids and adults. It’s got that subversive humor to it. It’s not your ordinary Pat the Bunny book.”
The strong interest from Borders, along with the book’s status as an in-house favorite, helped spur the publisher’s decision to release the book this September, and they have gone back to press for an additional 50,000 copies, for a total of 75,000 copies in print. Little, Brown has also signed the author/illustrator for a second book, due in spring 2007, called Stop Kissing Me.
Now TICKLE THE DUCK has its own Technorati tag.
Borders and Shading – Yahoo! News:
I feel a little sorry for bricks-and-mortar booksellers. People come in, thumb through the books, and then go home and order them on Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN – News). Sure, a few of us will actually buy something at Borders (NYSE: BGP – News) once in a while, but in this Fool’s case, it’s usually a buy motivated by pity or guilt, and that’s not a firm foundation for growth.
It appears that I’m not the only one not buying a lot of books at Borders these days. Companywide sales rose less than 1% in the third quarter, and that growth came almost entirely from expansion, as same-store sales at Borders and Waldenbooks fell 0.2% and 5.2%, respectively, and overseas comps were down as well. It’s probably not surprising, then, that margins slipped and the company’s net loss grew.
Some of the underperformance was self-inflicted. The company has been going through a store-remodeling program, and sales suffer at the locations undergoing remodeling. With 12% of the U.S. store base being remodeled this quarter, it’s not hard to imagine a significant impact across the business. On a somewhat positive note, the company reports that newly remodeled stores post better comps — though it’s anybody’s guess how long that boost will last.
Though Borders has generally been a consistent free cash flow producer, that’s not going to be the case this year, with the remodeling program having inflated the capital expenditures figure. Again, only time will tell whether the money spent there will earn a compelling return on the investment.
This has been a tough year for the company and the stock, with estimates having been cut several times. The good news, such as it is, is that the valuation here isn’t very high, and there’s not that much debt. The company’s cash flow history probably makes it worth keeping an eye on for value investors, but there’s probably plenty of time to browse before buying.
An unduly negative appraisal IMHO. I remember when Borders was at $12, $13, $14 share during the Amazon boomlet. Their business has survived.
Books Bright Spot at Gloomy Borders – 11/16/2005 – Publishers Weekly:
Borders Group had a rough third quarter with total sales up only 0.5%, to $837.2 million, while the net loss increased to $14.1 million from $1.1 million. The good news for publishers, however, is that books performed well in the period with comparable book sales up 3% at the company’s superstores. “The trend for books continues to be good,” said Borders CFO Ed Wilhelm. Music continued to be the black hole for Borders with same store music sales down 15% in the quarter, resulting in a 0.2% decline in overall comp store sale performance at the superstores.
Book sales were driven by solid backlist sales and a broad selection of new releases, which helped to offset lower sales of bestsellers, said Wilhelm. Among the titles that did well in the third quarter were The March, The Historian and The Year of Magical Thinking as well as several mystery titles. Wilhelm said title selection for the holiday season looks stronger than last year. In addition to the top sellers in the third quareter continuing to do well over the holiday, other books that should be strong sellers include Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals and the new James Patterson, Mary Mary.
Books rule. As far as this book-lover is concerned, while music, DVDs, and coffee are nice add-ons, it would also be just fine if Borders returned to its 1970s configuration of books — period.
|
|
Recent Comments