Borders Teetering, Amazon Celebrating, Barnes & Noble Holding Its Own
In 2007 stocks at Borders book stores were selling at around $20 a share. That was then. This is now. The stock is at risk for being de-listed from the NYSE because it has sold for under a dollar a share for over a month. Add to that dismal holiday sales:
The company announced a new management team to try to effect a turnaround. Good Luck with that.
Meanwhile,in Seattle things have never looked rosier for Amazon. They announced they had their best holiday season ever
. To help consumers understand just how amazonic their sales were, the online bookseller release some business fun facts.
- At its peak (Dec. 15) 6.3 million items were ordered worldwide, 72.9 per second. Amazon shipped to over 210 countries
- Amazon.com sold enough "Breaking Dawn" books that stacked end to end they would reach the summit of Mt. Everest eight times.
- The weight of all GPS devices sold from Black Friday through December equals the combined weight of 151 Mini Coopers.
BizReports
As for Barnes & Noble, they just got a vote of confidence from the investor group Yucaipa American Management which has acquired 8.3% of the company. Yucaipa said it was investing in Barnes & Noble because the stock was undervalued. While Barnes& Noble's management team warned their employees late last year that they were anticipating a less than voluminous sales season, The WSJ believes Barnes & Noble will be able to weather the storm.
However, Barnes & Noble has an excellent balance sheet and a highly regarded, stable management team. Given the troubles currently faced by Borders Group Inc., the nation's second-largest bookstore chain, Barnes & Noble could conceivably expand its market share this year at the expense of its rival.
It's not that people are reading less, they are just returning to libraries
-- now the question is 'Can the libraries survive the budget cuts?'
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