RadioShack announces bankruptcy plan
Sprint and its biggest shareholder, a hedge fund, have agreed to buy as many as 2,400 of the chain’s stores.
As rumors of the demise of RadioShack swirled this week, the chain’s executives stayed quiet.
Thursday night, the company announced a long-anticipated bankruptcy plan, putting to rest speculation that the RadioShack brand would be permanently retired.
One big rumor proved true: Sprint and its biggest shareholder, the hedge fund Standard General, are set to acquire between 1,500 and 2,400 of RadioShack’s company-owned stores in the United States. The rest of the 4,000 company-owned stores would be closed. Stores owned by franchisees and foreign affiliates aren’t part of the deal.
Sprint will establish “store-within-a-store” sections in as many as 1,750 of the retail locations Standard General buys. They won’t become full-on Sprint stores, as observers had guessed.
It’s not a totally done deal, however. Sprint and Standard General’s plan would have to get court approval to move ahead, and other entities could outbid the corporate suitor in an open auction.
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