You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Publishers are losing confidence in Borders' ability to survive, with reports staff are being told to seek employment elsewhere.
The New York Times reports talks with book publishers over halted payments have left them frustrated. The retailer has asked publishers to convert its delayed payments, some hundreds of millions of dollars, into interest bearing debt. The retailer has been seeking fresh cash from GE Capital to replace its existing revolving credit facility.
According http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/barnes-noble-up-borders... target="_blank">to the newspaper, Borders will outline the terms of the loans and a new turnaround plan for the business next week. However, the newspaper said: "After entering meetings earlier this week with hopes that Borders would have a feasible plan to solve its financial problems, some publishers appeared to be losing confidence by Thursday. Several people said they were
scrutinizing future print runs and examining the schedules of author events at Borders in February and March, with the expectation that they would be canceled."
Writing http://www.briankeene.com/?p=5330" target="_blank">on his blog, the author Brian Keene claimed: "multiple sources (all of whom are employed by Borders) are telling me that employees of several different Borders stores were told during conference calls this week that 'things are bad' and if they have an opportunity for employment elsewhere, they should take it.”
Speaking http://www.npr.org/2011/01/06/132713842/digital-divide-propels-barnes-no... target="_blank">to radio station NPR, Simba Information analyst Michael Norris said Borders' problems can be traced to instability at the top. He said: "They've actually been through quite a few executives over just a short number of years, and every time there's been an executive change, it basically slows the company down. And it just hasn't been as nimble or agile as it should have been."
He added a late entry into the e-commerce market also hindered the retailer. Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey told NPR: "There's always a possibility of a resurrection here, but at this point, it looks like Borders is probably the Tower Records of books. It's probably the book company most likely to go under, and to be that big announcement that causes everyone to finally realize that digital has won the battle."