B&N has a buyer...

Introversion

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Hedge funds generally strip & kill their victims, but I hope that's not what happens in this case.
 

Stytch

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Hedge funds generally strip & kill their victims, but I hope that's not what happens in this case.

Yes... as a newspaper industry refugee, I am absolutely hateful toward this. I know there's a lot that have gone into that decline, but it starts with Wall Street folks getting their hands on a lucrative business and stripping profits instead of reinvesting them.
 

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Hedge funds generally strip & kill their victims, but I hope that's not what happens in this case.

I'm not sure that's true.

Hedge funds need to be profitable, or they cease to perform their function.

If they take over a failing business then yes, they'll do what they have to do to make it work. And that can include selling off part of the business, or changing its direction so that it can do better. But if they take over a robust business they're going to want it to continue to perform, as that's in their interests.

I don't know how badly or how well B&N is doing now, and I'm not necessarily in favour or against this buyout: but after some shaky years Waterstones is doing well under their ownership, from what I've seen, so we could hope that B&N enjoys the same success.
 

Introversion

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I'm not sure that's true.

Hedge funds need to be profitable, or they cease to perform their function.

They do, of course. And I get that the certainty of short-term profits from stripping & killing may outweigh the uncertainties of long-term profits from a business that may not be fixable. That's a business decision.

That said, Bain Capital behaved in a pretty predatory way towards Toys'R'Us in the US, with little apparent interest in even trying to save the business. Left a bad taste, yanno? I have disdain for & suspicion of hedgies as a rule.

I do hope this fund is able to turn B&N around, as it sounds like they did with Waterstones. Book-selling seems like a brutal business to be in. It might not make sense for me to even wish for paper books to continue to be sold -- I buy probably 80% of my books as e-books now because I have little space to store more p-books. But I still hope it works for them.
 

Kjbartolotta

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I am unsure a revival is in the cards.

Book-selling seems like a brutal business to be in. It might not make sense for me to even wish for paper books to continue to be sold -- I buy probably 80% of my books as e-books now because I have little space to store more p-books. But I still hope it works for them.

It's not as bleak as all that, there's been an uptick in the last few years and the enthusiasm is there. The issue is the same ones facing all small businesses, namely, rent. Amazon doesn't cut into business as much as people think, tho the two most common things booksellers hear are "Has your business been hurt by Amazon?" or "Why don't you match their prices?"

Both are usually followed by "I'd rather support you than Amazon". People are very passive aggressive.
 
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