Borders to Cut 10% of Corporate Staff
NEW YORK(
) -- How much can
Border's
(BGP)
take?
Just days after
CEO Ron Marshall said he is leaving the retailer
to head another public company, Borders says it plans to lay off 164 corporate employees, or 10% of its corporate staff.
The news sent shares of Borders falling 4.3% to 90 cents in afternoon trading.
The company has been struggling to remain relevant as shoppers flock to discounters like
Amazon
(AMZN) - Get Report
and
Wal-Mart
(WMT) - Get Report
. They are also facing increasing pressure from electronic readers, and that pressure could escalate with yesterday's unveiling of
Apple's
(AAPL) - Get Report
iPad.
Last week,
Borders reported that same-store sales for the holiday period tumbled 14.6%
.
The company announced at the end of last year that it plans to shutter 182 of its Waldenbooks stores.
Rival
Barnes & Noble
(BKS) - Get Report
is in just as troubling of a situation.
Earlier in the month, Barnes & Noble slashed its third-quarter outlook after reporting a 5.4% decline in holiday sales.
Barnes & Noble received some ray of hope that a
deal could be in the works with Apple' iPad
, but those dreams were squelched when Apple announced its iBook store.
Shares of Barnes & Noble are also slipping 1.8% to $17.74 in afternoon trading.
-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.
RELATED STORIES:
>>Borders Tanks on Weak Holiday Sales
>>Borders CEO Flees Crumbling Company
>>No Deal for Barnes & Noble and Apple
>>Barnes & Noble Spikes on Apple Rumors
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