Activist investor Mark Wattles has won another concession from Circuit City Stores Inc. with the troubled retailer's announcement that CEO Philip Schoonover stepped down. The board of directors appointed James Marcum to serve as acting president and chief executive officer. Remember Marcum? He was one of Wattles' board nominees, who was elected to Circuit City's board of directors in June.
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Wattles, who controls a 6.5% stake in the beleaguered electronics store chain, was all for selling Circuit City to Blockbuster Inc. Too bad Blockbuster backed out of the deal in July.
Wattles in late June told Reuters that there are other interested bidders
in the store, but no word as of yet who they might be. However, its
unlikely any other bidders still exist. With its share price hovering
near its 52-week low of $1.52 a share, Circuit City's market cap is $270 million, and a likely buyer would have already surfaced. - Maria Woehr
Comments
TODAY I WENT INTOAA CIRCIUT CITY STORE FOR A CAR LIGHTER CELL PHONE CHARGER. I HAD BOUGHT ONE PREVIOUSLY AND HAD TO RETURN IT BECAUSE IT DID NOT FFIT. AFTER NOT FINDING HELP FROPM STAFF BECAUSE THEY WERE GATHERED IN SEVERAL GROUPS TALKING TO EACH OTHER, I FINALLY PULLED A TEMA SUPERVISOR AWAY TO LOCATE THE MERCHANDISE. HE WAS TRYING TO OPEN A PACKAGE TO MAKE SURE THE FIT WAS GOOD WHEN A BLACK FEMALE CLERK, DRESSED IN A WHITE T-SHIRT RATHER THAN A STORE UNIFORM, STEPPED IN TO SAY I (HE) COULD NOT OPEN THE PACKAGE. I WALKED OUT OF THE STORE.
THE CLERKS WHO WERE ENGAGED WITH EACH OTHER WERE BLACK; THE INTRUSIVE FEMALE CLERK WAS BLACK; I AM BLACK. RACE IS NOT THE ISSUE; IGNORANCE AND STUPIDITY IS. I HEARD ANOTHER PAIR OF CUSTOMERS TELLING EACH OTHER THEY COULD NOT FIND HELP IN THE STORE WHEN THERE WERE AT LEAST 12 STAFF ON THE FLOOR, AND ONLY 4 CUSTOMERS.
THIS IS NOT THE FIRST EPISODE LIKE THIS I HAVE EXPERIENCED AT CIRCUIT CITY. WHY IT IS STILL OPEN AT ALL????