Borders’ Landlords and Creditors, Kobo Object to Bankruptcy Liquidation
Borders Group Inc. faces objections as it heads to liquidation from creditors, landlords and e-book maker Kobo Inc., which called the sale process “hurried and confused.”
Borders will wind down its remaining 399 stores starting July 22 after it couldn’t reach an agreement with an earlier bidder, Najafi Cos., about an offer to keep the company running. The company won’t hold an auction as there have been no proposals to keep the company operating, it said in a statement yesterday.
I know it wasn’t the same company
But Borders UK spiralled into a mess when it was being closed down and the creditors didn’t do too well out of it, the staff especially not.
landlords
They have to kick them when they’re down? Jeesh.
Librarians need business knowledge
Re: Comment about landlords kicking a company when they’re down.
This is evidence of one of the reasons too many librarians can’t make a compelling case for libraries. Our institutional lack of business sense and knowledge is appalling. No, we’re not for profit businesses. But we do exist in a world where finances are important. We are too often discounted because there are too many of us who make these kinds of comments, at which point we as a group lack any credibility.
Finance 101: Businesses can’t exist unless they make a profit. Real estate is in terrible shape, so the landlords could easily be down too. Is it reasonable to require that the landlords jeopordize their businesses because Borders is in trouble?
I don’t know how it works in the US but
Most of the company collapses seem to happen at the point of the year where the rent on properties are due as they are often some of the biggest bills to pay.
If there is flexibility on the side of the landlords there can often be the chance to make more money to try and pay off debts, but on the other side the landlords want the money they are owed and want to get ahead of as many creditors as possible. Tax and other government agencies are first in the creditors queue, and in many cases the landlords, even if next will get nothing. So they want to get what they can now rather than risk having nothing later.