bookpublishing

This time my news doesn’t come from PW Daily. It comes from word of mouth–don’t you love it? A good friend of mine lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was at the gym working out with a girl who works for Borders headquarters (also located in Ann Arbor). Some unfortunate, but not surprising, news to begin 2009: Borders fired their CEO, George Jones, and other top execs. Jones is to be replaced by Ron Marshall, a former private equity firm executive.

The Ann Arbor-based bookseller also announced today that its total holiday sales were $868.8 million, a 11. 7 percent drop from 2007. […] Borders also said it has been notified by the New York Stock Exchange that its stock has been trading for less than $1 for a consecutive 30 days. Within the next six months, the company must get its stock above $1 a share for 30 consecutive days or face delisting from the exchange. Borders’ stock closed at 45 cents a share on Friday.

Although the company had been put up for sale in early 2008, Borders took itself off the market just recently, and things seemed to be looking up. They survived Christmas, but barely… they won’t be riding on that flow of cash very long. And facing delisting from the NYSE can’t be helpful either. I’m hoping they stick around to fight another day, but how many battles can you survive in this economy before you crash and burn?

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