Conversely, B&N's shares are zooming.
The're already at the $16 mark that was the proposed target of the fabled Buyout by Borders.
From Reuters: Credit Suisse upgrades B&N stock on Borders woes.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN...6:b40756018:z0
They expect B&N sales to improve by 18% of Borders sales (About US$400 million) if Borders starts closing stores. (BTW, note that a whopping 70% of their stores overlap.)
I'm not exactly thrilled to see Borders on the verge but they sure dug a monster of a hole for themselves.
As of Oct they owed publishers $440 million but had only $23 million on hand.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN...5:b40756136:z0
And that was before the recent audit devalued their assets by an unspecified amount.
The publishers do need the extra channel capacity that Borders offers them (as leverage against the dept stores and online sellers) but if B&N demands equal terms they'll have to choose between letting Borders die, or bleeding themselves to keep both chains open.