Fired CEO sues B&N: Soap Opera launched

[darryl]

It's like pulling the driver from his seat and taking over when the bus is heading towards the precipice at 100 kilometres per hour and a metre from the edge. I can't imagine why any suitor would be interested, including Indigo. They and others will no doubt pick over the carcass in due course.

I'd love to see Amazon buy them just for the apoplectic reactions it would produce amongst the usual suspects. The end of the World is nigh cries would rival those of any doomsday cultists. This is of course not going to happen for very many reasons, but it is fun to think about.

[ZGottlieb]

I agree with your comment. Employers need to be honest with Employees at all levels. Perhaps it was something as simple as poor management and stock declines. If that's the case, then it should be stated.

[ZGottlieb]

Amazon is opening their own brick and mortar. They don't need to tarnish their name with B&N.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by ZGottlieb

Amazon is opening their own brick and mortar. They don't need to tarnish their name with B&N.

It is not so much the tarnishing of name as the size of the stores. The big B&N are not suitable to Amazon's idea of a brick and mortar. It might be a different story if B&N actually owned the stores instead of leasing them.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

It is not so much the tarnishing of name as the size of the stores. The big B&N are not suitable to Amazon's idea of a brick and mortar. It might be a different story if B&N actually owned the stores instead of leasing them.

They used to own a few of their own but they sold them off years ago.
They were worth more to developers and other retailers than they were worth as bookstores.

Like this one:

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle...ls-for-7m.html

Edit:This one in Boston took a while to sell but brought in a good chunk of change:

https://www.bisnow.com/boston/news/m...sold-75876#ath

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

They used to own a few of their own but they sold them off years ago.
They were worth more to developers and other retailers than they were worth as bookstores.

Like this one:

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle...ls-for-7m.html

Used to is the imperative word. No much value left as a whole (as of right now) to buy everything for the few interesting pieces. Better to wait for someone else to buyout B&N with the intent clear from the beginning to split and liquidate.

Except Riggio doesn't realize yet that he should let his dream die and move on.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Used to is the imperative word. No much value left as a whole (as of right now) to buy everything for the few interesting pieces. Better to wait for someone else to buyout B&N with the intent clear from the beginning to split and liquidate.

Except Riggio doesn't realize yet that he should let his dream die and move on.

Selling the buildings kept them alive a while longer.

As is, there is still a lot of unbundled value to be found in B&N. More than in the combined company. A common "vote of confidence" seen in sick companies.

- They own a publishing business, Sterling publishing. They've been trying to sell them but nobody has met the asking price and its IP catalog isn't particularly deep or good. In a liquidation Hachette might buy it. They'll bought Disney's Hyperion, they'll buy anything.

- The own a substantial logistics and warehouse system that rivals Ingram. In the 90's they tried to buy Ingram but were blocked on antitrust grounds since it would have let them control the prices of their competitors. Empty of books, it would be a valuable distribution system for a foreign retailer looking to get into the US. Clothing, cosmetics, toys, widgets of all kinds. Maybe even for books.

- One thing a buyer won't have to worry is about pension liabilities since B&N ended their Defined Benefits plan in 2014 and, anyway, they fired everybody with significant tenure.
http://www.pionline.com/article/2014...nating-db-plan

- The brand itself still has some value. The same for Nook and FictionWise/eBookwise. Some startup or smaller bookstore might buy them.
Hmm, Bluefire and Aldiko are still around; they could bid for the brands to front generic storefronts. Or maybe FNAC or Waterstones will be interested in the brand (alone or with the logistics and warehouses.)

And, of course, there's the great hope itself: Indigo.

[Apache]

A local jeweler in our area sold his store to a group of Doctors around 1990. He had a large store with an incredibly large amount of very valuable jewelry. They paid him over $3,000,000.00 for his store. I never understood what possessed them to pay that much considering, he did not own the building that the store was in and they did not purchase his merchandise. They got used showcases, displays, jewelers tools and office equipment. Needless to say, they store quickly went out of business and he laughed all the way to the bank.
Apache

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Used to is the imperative word. No much value left as a whole (as of right now) to buy everything for the few interesting pieces. Better to wait for someone else to buyout B&N with the intent clear from the beginning to split and liquidate.

Except Riggio doesn't realize yet that he should let his dream die and move on.

I was in a Barnes & Noble the other day (mentioned in another thread). The place was busy, well stocked and didn't have the "smell of death" lingering over it. Admittedly stores in this area may be the exception to the rule, but there still seems to be a lot of value in Barnes & Noble to me.

If Walmart is serious about competing with Amazon ... maybe a Walmart/Kobo purchase and keep Barnes & Noble whole.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I was in a Barnes & Noble the other day (mentioned in another thread). The place was busy, well stocked and didn't have the "smell of death" lingering over it. Admittedly stores in this area may be the exception to the rule, but there still seems to be a lot of value in Barnes & Noble to me.

If Walmart is serious about competing with Amazon ... maybe a Walmart/Kobo purchase and keep Barnes & Noble whole.

Whole, as in keeping all the execs?
Dunno.
I don't think their assets are valueless but their management culture sounds outright toxic. Buy the assets, fire everybody upstairs, start over fresh as NBN. New Barnes and Noble.

Btw, when Circuit City went down, the one near me was doing gangbusters business.
When Borders went under, the nearest one was doing so well the Mall operator wanted to buy it and keep the staff and everything the same. Big traffic magnet.

I've no doubt that 50-60 of the B&N stores are making money hand over fist, especially in the larger metro areas with lots of flowing money. But the other 500 stores...

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Whole, as in keeping all the execs?

No. Whole as in keeping all parts of the company, including stores. Probably changing the name, though.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

...
Btw, when Circuit City went down, the one near me was doing gangbusters business.
When Borders went under, the nearest one was doing so well the Mall operator wanted to buy it and keep the staff and everything the same. Big traffic magnet.

I've no doubt that 50-60 of the B&N stores are making money hand over fist, especially in the larger metro areas with lots of flowing money. But the other 500 stores...

I was in Borders and Circuit City here near the end. Even in my area, in good economic conditions, the stores had the "smell of death." The shelves were half empty, the employees had that lackadaisical, "I'd rather be anywhere else" look in their eyes — the stores were generally unkempt (even the lighting was poor in the Circuit City). That's what I expected at Barnes & Noble the other day, but that's not what I saw. What I saw was energetic employees, a well stocked, well lighted and clean store. The Nook display is gone (three Nook devices at the Customer Service desk now) and a fairly small stand to display their cases, fifteen feet away, or so. But, since the Nook displays had dominated the entrance and were basically moribund, I think taking them out opens up the store and "freshens" it. I still think there is some value there for someone (maybe Indigo, maybe Walmart/Kobo) to take advantage of.

[DuckieTigger]

Then why are they losing money? Even a busy store needs to make enough profit to be profitable. The bigger the store, the more operating cost you have to recover before even thinking about profit... Books have a much bigger profit margin than toys and trinkets, especially when B&N can buy them at wholesale discount.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Then why are they losing money? Even a busy store needs to make enough profit to be profitable. The bigger the store, the more operating cost you have to recover before even thinking about profit... Books have a much bigger profit margin than toys and trinkets, especially when B&N can buy them at wholesale discount.

Individual stores can be profitable even if the company as a whole isn't. I haven't been in a B&N for a while, but I know what he means about a certain feel. The Toys RUs near me definitely had that feel shortly before they closed up.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Fbone

A reported case of sexual harassment by the CEO. How could they not fire him?

There is now zero tolerance for this type of alleged behavior.

if they had given him the severance package, he would have gone away relatively quietly

As it is, Parneros was right about how this looked

B&N done screwed up

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Sorry.
When I said airport layouts, I meant reuse their existing store layouts. In non-airport settings. Like malls or downtowns. The reason they're profitable is precisely because of those smaller layouts so the bigger storefronts won't suit them. Indigo, on the other hand, wants to sell more than books. They might have some use for the excess space.

Those existing store layouts aren't too different from Amazon Books locations. Add a coffee shop on one end and you have a convenience store slash bookstore slash coffee shop.

That is a viable business in a relatively small footprint.