[GreenKeys] OT: Radio Shack RIP

[Chris Elmquist]

The Fat Lady has finally sung,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEntZUx24s8


On Friday (02/06/2015 at 10:26PM -0600), Don Robert House K9TTY wrote:
> RadioShack, after years of puzzling bottom-seeking stock investors on
> how it managed to stay in business, filed for bankruptcy on Thursday
> evening. The retailer, best known to consumers in recent years as a
> trusty seller of easy to lose cords, chargers and tech accessories,
> also announced a deal to sell between 1,500 and 2,400 stores to a
> consortium including Standard General and Sprint while in
> restructuring.
> 
> The bankruptcy filing ends a surprisingly long run for RadioShack.
> While some electronics competitors such as Circuit City and Nobody
> Beats The Wiz died years ago, the Ft. Worth, Tx.-based company
> withstood the internet age, the rise of Apple AAPL -0.84% and
> consumers’ transition to wireless devices mostly by selling cords,
> esoteric technological parts, battery packs and adapters.
> 
> Founded 94 years ago by Theodore and Milton Deutschmann in a
> storefront in Boston, RadioShack rose to glory with the mass adoption
> of the radio and the rise of electronics.  In 1962, the company was 
> acquired by Tandy Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange-listed 
> Texas-based leather goods firm that was seeking to diversify and in
> 2000, the company changed its ticker to ‘RSH’.
> 
> The retailer sold its first mobile phone in 1984 and eventually
> peddled over 73 million cellular phones over a span of decades. The
> company also became a top seller of the walkmen, CD Players, mini
> disk players and beepers that preceded, but were made obsolete by the
> smartphone, in addition to do-it-yourself devices such as satellites
> dishes. As with Best Buy BBY +3.52% and Circuit City, RadioShack
> suffered from the rise of e-commerce, but it survived as a declining
> and niche electronics business for years.
> 
> Ultimately, changing technology and consumer habits proved too much
> to overcome. The company filed with $1.2 billion in assets and $1.38
> billion in liabilities in a Delaware court Thursday, listing between
> 50,000 and 100,000 creditors. Wilmington Trust Company, owned by M&T
> Bank MTB +1.83%, is acting as a trustee representing unsecured
> creditors with $329 million in claims listed against RadioShack.
> Sprint holds a $6 million claim, the filing shows.
> 
> There will be life, of sorts, after bankruptcy. Standard General, a
> private equity fund said on Thursday it reached a deal to acquire up
> to 2,400 RadioShack stores and will work with Sprint to create 1,750
> store-within-a store concepts nationwide.
> 
> Standard General also filed a motion to close RadioShack’s remaining
> company-owned stores under an agreement with Hilco Merchant
> Resources. Currently, RadioShack currently has approximately 4,000
> company owned stores in the U.S., and over 1,000 dealer franchise
> stores in 25 countries.
> 
> RadioShack stores operated by its Mexican subsidiary, and its Asia
> operations are not a part of the company’s Chapter 11 filing.
> 
> “These steps are the culmination of a thorough process intended to
> drive maximum value for our stakeholders,” Joe Magnacca, RadioShack’s
> CEO said in a statement and added discussions are underway to sell
> the company’s remaining assets.
> 
> As part of its bankruptcy filing, RadioShack said its secured a $285
> million in debtor-in-possession financing commitment from its current
> asset-backed lenders group, which includes DW Partners.
> 
> RadioShack is working with legal advisor Jones Day, investment bank
> Lazard Freres, and financial advisors The MAEVA Group and FTI.

> ______________________________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
> 
> 2002-to-present greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
> 1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
> Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool: http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html


-- 
Chris Elmquist