According to MobyLives, it looks like the perennially on-the-ropes Borders is trying to buy the much larger, and financially healthier, Barnes & Noble:
“A major shareholder of Borders Group Inc. proposed that the bookseller acquire much bigger rival Barnes & Noble Inc., in a gamble to unite the two giant but struggling retailers at a time of major tumult in the book industry.”
As the report details, “A hedge fund managed by Borders investor William Ackman is now offering to finance a bid of $960 million in cash, or $16 per share, for Borders to buy the much bigger Barnes & Noble, which put itself up for sale in August. Mr. Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management LP holds 37.3% of Borders shares, made his offer in a regulatory filing that became public Monday.”
Borders-and-Barnes & Noble rumors have been flying since the two national chains got started, but this is the first time in a while that I’ve seen rumors suggesting that Borders will buy B&N; lately, it’s been the other way around.
Worked for Sears and Kmart, didn’t it?
This would more than likely result in the downtown Seattle Borders closing, as redundant stores would be done away with and the B&N has a much nicer location.
I’m an ex-Borders employee who doesn’t want to see anything good happen to the rich idiots who run the company or anything bad happen to the people who actually staff the stores, and I think this would be a little of both.
Has the world completely flipped? I keep expecting Borders to close, but HA! HA! if the evil empire expired I would do a little dance. However, as a (happily) ex-BN employee I agree with augurgirl, it will not be the swells feeling the pinch, but the folks supporting their families and living paycheck to paycheck who will suddenly join the lines of the unemployed.