Borders Announces Next Move

Nearly everyone in the publishing industry has been waiting to find out what's going to happen to Borders since it declared bankruptcy months ago. And now, they've announced their next step.

According to GalleyCat, Borders and the company Direct Brands will be making an "asset purchase agreement":

Borders Group announced last night that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Direct Brands, a portfolio company of Najafi Companies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Direct Brands would purchase substantially all of Borders’ assets for $215.1 million, as well as assume $220 million of liabilities, subject to the auction and Bankruptcy Court approval.

If the deal goes through, Borders would operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Direct Brands, which also owns the Book-of-the-Month Club as well as Columbia House. Hilco and Gordon Brothers have agreed to acquire any store locations that are ultimately not included in the sale and will close those stores in an orderly manner.

The deal is expected to go through by late July.

See the original post HERE

I'm still bummed about the whole Borders situation and how it's impacted the industry, but I must say I'm somehow glad to hear they'll at least be operating in some capacity. I don't like the idea of them closing all the store not involved in the deal, but I guess it could be worse. We'll just have to wait and see what happens, as per usual!