Borders lays off more workers, struggles to survive as reading culture it helped create goes digital
Ann Arbor-based Borders Group Inc. has laid off 45 more employees as it struggles to cut costs and restructure its debt, The Detroit Free Press reported today.
Meanwhile, an article in the Detroit News today detailed the company's history and notes the irony of the chain's struggle to survive in the digital age after Borders helped foster a love of reading with its knowledgeable sales associates.
Last week, investors drove up Borders stock after the New York Times reported the company was claiming to be close to securing new financing.
Borders executives met with publishers Thursday in hopes of securing new vendor financing agreements.
It's unlikely Borders will be able to continue through 2011 without filing for bankruptcy protection or seeking a merger, a University of Michigan expert told AnnArbor.com recently.
Comments
UofM_Fan
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 12:34 p.m.
You can point the finger at the ebook but that's not the cause of Borders' demise. Borders was a corrupt company, run by greedy executives. They put together business plans that focused on quick gains for their own personal profit. There is a reason why that during the late 1990s and early 2000s HR used to included all the stock options they gave employees as part of their compensation. When the stock price was near $40, telling employees that in 5 years you'll be able to cash all those options in and be rich. See what a generous company we are? What happened then? The greed caught up to them and the pyramid of short-term schemes finally toppled over. The stock tanked (not before the big wigs cashed in though!) and all those long-term options were now worthless. The point? For years upper management looked for nothing more that fast money. They knew it was eventually going to come to an end and they bailed out in plenty of time with money to spare. It's been a revolving door ever since. All the while the thousands of employees are whittled down, while those that remain are strong-armed into submission.
Bogie
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 6:13 p.m.
I am sick of computers! I wonder, if the printed book will be put on the endanger species list? Scary.
AlwaysLate
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 3:52 p.m.
From the Dtroit News article... Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis said the layoffs comprise a small fraction of Borders' total work force of 19,500. What Msss. Davis studiously avoids saying is that those 19,500 are all that remains of the more than 45,000 Borders employees who worked there as recently as 2007. It's a damn shame what management did to that once proud company.
amazonwarrior
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 2:30 p.m.
I take back what I said last week about Borders going out of business by summer 2011; looks like it's going to happen much sooner.