Are book stores over?

Apple.

I like Barnes and Noble more than any local bookstore Ive ever been too. They have most everything I've ever wanted, and what I haven't been able to find, amazon or eBay has. I expect that B&N will be around for a while. They just came out with their own ebook, the nook, and their online site is far superior to Amazons.

Barnes & Noble, the giant bookstore chain, said Tuesday afternoon that its board was considering a sale of the company, possibly to an investor group led by its chairman and founder, Leonard Riggio.

The retailer said its board decided to explore a possible sale and other strategic alternatives because its stock was “significantly undervalued.” It said a special committee of its board had hired Lazard as its financial adviser and Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell as its legal adviser to help evaluate the company’s options.

Shares of Barnes & Noble jumped as much as 27 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday, rising $3.51, to $16.35. The retailer disclosed that it was considering a possible sale after the stock market closed.

Barnes & Noble said Mr. Riggio, its largest shareholder with about 30 percent of its stock, had told its board that he intended to consider participating in an investor group to acquire the company.

Posted: Jan 6, 2011 at 6:04 AM [Jan 6, 2011]

A top bankruptcy expert at the University of Michigan Law School said recent events indicate Ann Arbor-based Borders Group Inc. is toppling toward a bankruptcy filing or a merger with competitor Barnes & Noble.

“One of those things will happen within the next few months,” U-M law professor John Pottow, a national bankruptcy expert, said in an interview. “The amount of losses they’re incurring is not something where they can avoid (restructuring).”


Borders employs about 600 workers at its Ann Arbor headquarters.

Photo by Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
Borders’ challenges are mounting as the company enters the most difficult time of the year for book store chains: the months after the holiday shopping season.
The company, which lost $74.4 million in its 2010 third quarter, is actively seeking new bank financing and trying to restructure vendor payment agreements to avoid running out of cash.

Borders, the beleaguered bookseller, is preparing to file for bankruptcy as early next week after efforts to refinance its debt faltered, people briefed on the matter said Friday.

The company had largely failed to persuade publishers to convert payments they had been owed since late last year into interest-bearing loans
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Borders currently operates more than 650 stores, including about 500 superstores, and employs 19,000 people. The company could close more than 150 of those locations, one of these people said.

By Aaron Smith, staff writerFebruary 16, 2011: 8:11 AM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Borders Group has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans to close 30% of its stores, the book retailer said Wednesday.

"It has become increasingly clear that in light of the environment of curtailed customer spending, our ongoing discussions with publishers and other vendor related parties, and the company's lack of liquidity, Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor," the company said in a statement.