Circuit City Set Aflame

"We believe that these issues are primarily self-induced and are within our control to improve," said Schoonover. "Though there is more work to be done, we started to address the execution issues and experienced sequential improvements in close rate, and our key TV attachment basket improved each month of the quarter after hitting a bottom in August."

Amid the losses, Circuit City received a $1.3 billion credit facility from Bank of America, the company said. That will replace its current $500 million credit line.

Despite Circuit City's disappointments, its executives won't be going anywhere. The company's board approved a special cash retention award for each of Circuit City's executive vice presidents and senior vice presidents.

Effective Jan. 1, the award will vest over a three-year period and amount to $1 million for each executive vice president and $600,000 for each senior vice president, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Additionally, the company's compensation and personnel committee approved long-term incentive awards to Schoonover and to each of Circuit City's executive vice presidents and senior vice presidents. The awards will be in the form of options to acquire shares of the company's common stock, valued at $2.9 million for the CEO and $775,000 for each executive vice president.

Scott Tilghman, an analyst for Soleil-Hudson Square Research, says the retention program shows that Circuit City is intent on keeping its management in place in order to ensure continuity on its transformation plans.

He believes that management has not had enough time to see those changes through, hampered by problems at the company that preceded them, as well as larger macroeconomic issues outside of their control.

Nonetheless, Tilghman says patience will wear thin if progress is not realized by next year.

For some shareholders, that patience has already worn out. The stock recently was down $1.82 to $4.84.