The final indignity is that rights to its brand and online assets were sold - inexpensively - to its former arch-rival. But before one channels images of ancient warriors eating the hearts of their enemies, one might do well to also remember the Poisoned Chalice. As the accompanying chart shows, the real enemy is Amazon and ebook sales. Barnes and Noble is fighting for a share of that market. And it has a chance. But the assets sold by Borders were cheap because they didnt have much value in terms of projected future cash flows.
The implication is that brand values in the internet age are a shape shifting asset. Some may disappear because they have lost meaning in the maelstrom of new channels, media and messages. Some may reemerge when nostalgia and their residual value offer promise of some profit, however small. But Shakespeare's famous question, "what's in a name?" will continue to haunt businesses for the foreseeable future. JL
Daniel Duggan reports in Crain's Detroit Business:
The Web address “www.borders.com” soon may take Web browsers to “www.barnesandnoble.com.”
New York City-based Barnes & Noble Inc. has acquired the customer information, Internet addresses and a range of other unidentified intellectual property assets in a liquidation auction for what’s left of Borders Group Inc.
The auction involved 50 rounds of bidding and included booksellers and Internet retailers, according to a statement issued by Northbrook, Ill.-based Hilco Trading LLC, the company handling the liquidation.
All of the items sold totaled $15.8 million, but not all of it was purchased by Barnes & Noble, according to Hilco. Malaysia-based Berjaya Books also purchased some of the assets.
Hilco said Barnes & Noble was one buyer of the assets, which included “a global portfolio of trademarks; the Borders, Waldenbooks and Brentano’s trade names; Internet domain names; and the Borders.com e-commerce website.”
No comment was made by Hilco or by Barnes & Noble as to what exactly was acquired.
Publisher’s Weekly reports that Barnes & Noble paid $13.9 million of the $15.8 million total.
The trade publication reported that Barnes & Noble acquired most all of Borders’s domestic assets, including its Internet domain names, the Borders.com website and trademarks such as Borders, Waldenbooks and Brentano’s.
Borders’ membership lists and customer information such as contact information, email addresses and other purchasing history were also acquired.
The sale is to be approved Tuesday as part of the bankruptcy case in New York.
“We are very pleased with the successful auction,” Borders CEO Holly Etlin said in a press release. “The participants clearly recognized the significant strategic value in the Borders name and other assets linked to the Borders customer base, and the Borders estate benefited as a result.”
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