As rumored last week, Carlos Slim Helu's U.S. electronics chain CompUSA Management Co. will close after the holiday. Liquidator and restructuring firm Gordon Brothers Group LLC agreed to purchase the assets of the troubled Dallas-based retailer, which closed half of its stores in February. No financial details were given, but Boston-based Gordon Brothers is expected to find a buyer for CompUSA's store locations, its e-commerce unit and its tech support business.
Continue reading below
The rumors of a liquidation started on Wednesday when technology blog Engadget wrote about a supposed Best Buy Co. internal memo informing employees about a possible closure of its rival. The Best Buy e-mail indicated CompUSA had stopped restocking shipments after February and had contacted liquidators. How did Best Buy hear of the possible closure? It stands to reason that the two retailers share vendors.
In 2000, after several quarters of losses, CompUSA was taken private by Slim's Mexican conglomerate Grupo Carso SA for about $889 million. However, it continued to struggle even as it attempted to diversify its product mix through the acquisition of Californian electronics retailer The Good Guys in 2003.
After failing to sell itself last year, CompUSA shuttered 126 stores in February, and it announced plans to refocus its remaining 103 around a more business-oriented product mix. However, a tour of the Midtown Manhattan store shows that little has changed since the February closures, and the same was noted on Internet message boards about other remaining stores.
Full coverage will come later in The Daily Deal and on TheDeal.com. — Matthew Wurtzel
See story from Dealbook
See story from the Boston Business Journal
See story from BloggingStocks
See earlier story from Engadget
See TheDeal.com: Report: CompUSA on the block
