Corporate Death Pool 2009

[Apathy]

Recession got you a little down? Lets have some fun being morbid! Who's going down this year?

You name 'em, I'll list 'em.

Apathy - Nissan, Pier1, Radioshack

Crazymage - Simutronics

Back - Texas Instruments

Revalos - Circuit City (wow how'd you guess), Pier1, Borders

Stretch - BAH

Kuyuk - FedEx

Skeeter - Borders

Kembal - Borders, Chrysler (mergers count unless its more of a strategic alliance, ie sirius xm), Pier1, Citigroup, Andarko

Ponzz - KB Toys

Parkbandit - Old Navy (I hope by the grace of god you're right and those commercials end)

Alleleri - (Neiman Marcus or Saks 5th Avenue), (Express or The Limited), Bennigans. Make a choice with your other picks :P

SHAFT - LA Times, Midway Games

Stanley - The Bush Administration. Sure why not.

[Back]

2

[Soulpieced]

2

[The Ponzzz]

I dunno, I think radioshack is on its way out.

[crazymage]

Simutronics!

[Soulpieced]

RadioShack actually has a fair business model. They only have small shops (lower rent) in major malls, they carry lots of esoteric electronic pieces and parts you can't find in your typical Best Buy, carry cell phones, etc. So they might actually be able to stay in business if they can keep controlling costs, and if people do go there to a brick & mortar store as opposed to going to the Internet for the niche electronics.

[septus]

2.

If radioshack would be going out of business, it would have done so for now. no one knows why that bitch is still kicking (http://www.theonion.com/content/news/even_ceo_cant_figure_out_how).

[Back]

Texas Instruments.

[The Ponzzz]

RadioShack actually has a fair business model. They only have small shops (lower rent) in major malls, they carry lots of esoteric electronic pieces and parts you can't find in your typical Best Buy, carry cell phones, etc. So they might actually be able to stay in business if they can keep controlling costs, and if people do go there to a brick & mortar store as opposed to going to the Internet for the niche electronics.

True, I just see more and more people going to the internet. I think the older crowd who are use to going to a store for their wants/needs will keep them with a steady customer base, I just don't see it lasting. But we'll see!

[Revalos]

Circuit City - Best Buy has won
Borders - anyone seen the stock lately?
Pier1 - This damn place should have been closed years ago

Nissan is safe because they make machinery in addition to vehicles.

Radioshack is safe because the tech bubble earlier this decade didn't kill it, it is like the cockroach of retail...nothing will kill that damn place.

[Drisco]

L2MakePoll

Gosh.

[Stretch]

1. Booz Allen Hamilton

[Miscast]

1. Booz Allen Hamilton
Why?

[Numbers]

I love RadioShack. They always have nifty gadgets and wires and connection doodads you can't get anywhere else. And rocking RC cars. Their batteries suck balls, though.

[Apathy]

L2MakePoll

Gosh.

There is no poll because I'm not polling my picks...the idea is to pick whose going out of business.

I'm flattered so many people seem to think the three I named are the limits but I was hoping for more, you know, audience participation.

[Kuyuk]

I dont think thisthread was a poll thread, I think it was more on the lines of a "Who do you think is going to go out of business this year" thread, much like the death pool of 2008 that we had.. where everyone chose a few (5) people they thought were going to * XXXXX just bit the dust!

He chose those 3 corporations to bite the dust..

[Mistomeer]

Nissan is fine. So their stock sucks like most other auto makers, but their bond rating was fine last I checked. They could still fail, but you'll see their bond rating lowered prior to their failure.

If I had to bet on a company to fail, I'd go with Harrah's. Last I heard, TPG/Apollo hadn't made their $1 billion loan payment and their bond rating is in the toilet.

[Kuyuk]

1) 1 of the major airlines.. pick whatever one you want
2) Fedex

[Bobmuhthol]

Major airlines aren't going to fail; they're significantly (almost entirely) more likely to merge.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

I read an article on Pier1 and Borders the other day, probably a safe bet they are toast.

[Skeeter]

Yeah I was going to throw Borders out there.

[Kembal]

Interesting question: does a merger that kills off the brand identity count as a corporate death? or is corporate death only chap. 7 bankruptcy?

My list:

Borders
Chrysler (assuming mergers count)
Pier1
Citigroup
Andarko (independent oil and gas producer, again, if mergers count)

I can probably think of a few more.

Edit: Circuit City, of course, but that's probably cheating...they already filed for chap. 11, I think.

[The Ponzzz]

I'll toss KB Toys onto the fire.

[Trouble]

I think a bunch of individual stores/restaurants will close around where I live, but I think the companies will be ok. But assuming we're talking about entire companies (including mergers) I'd go with Chrysler for sure. I also think we'll see some losses/consolidation in the youth fashion industry (Abercrombe, Limited, BR, etc).

[Parkbandit]

Old Navy was mentioned in this piece:

http://money.aol.com/investing/big-retailers-which-may-close-or-downsize

[CrystalTears]

Noooo! Not Old Navy!! :cry:

[Parkbandit]

I think a bunch of individual stores/restaurants will close around where I live, but I think the companies will be ok. But assuming we're talking about entire companies (including mergers) I'd go with Chrysler for sure. I also think we'll see some losses/consolidation in the youth fashion industry (Abercrombe, Limited, BR, etc).

I say to my kids all the time.. the stuff they buy "new" from some of these places looks like the stuff I was embarrassed to have to wear when I was a kid. I remember being so happy after Christmas because that would mean I had brand new solid blue jeans with no holes in them to wear to school. By March, they would be trashed and I would still have to wear them to school.. full of holes in the knees and thighs.

[Allereli]

either Neiman Marcus or Saks 5th Avenue

either Express or The Limited

Bennigans. I just really fucking hate Bennigans

[CrystalTears]

I say to my kids all the time.. the stuff they buy "new" from some of these places looks like the stuff I was embarrassed to have to wear when I was a kid. I remember being so happy after Christmas because that would mean I had brand new solid blue jeans with no holes in them to wear to school. By March, they would be trashed and I would still have to wear them to school.. full of holes in the knees and thighs.
Okay you're older than I thought because ripped jeans were in style when I was in school.

Bennigans. I just really fucking hate BennigansPoor Butters.

[Parkbandit]

Okay you're older than I thought because ripped jeans were in style when I was in school.


Not really a matter of when.. but where. I grew up in a rural upstate NY farming area where only the "rich" kids had the non-ripped jeans.

[Kuyuk]

<Not really a matter of when.. but where. I grew up in a rural upstate NY farming area where only the "rich" kids had the non-ripped jeans.>

Where bouts?

[The Ponzzz]

Too many people from Upstate NY on these forums. Heh.

[SHAFT]

1. LA Times
2. Midway Games

I'll add more later

[Clove]

That's weird. Where I'm from it was the rich kids who HAD the ripped up jeans.

[The Ponzzz]

Got a few more I think that might go this year.

Office Depot (or at least a large majority of their stores)
Whitehall Jewelers
FYE (though I believe Best Buy owns part of them)

[Drew2]

either Express or The Limited


Fuck you and your hate-speech.

[Allereli]

Fuck you and your hate-speech.

Actually I've been enjoying The Limited's clearance sales.

[Drew2]

I was more concerned about Express, obviously, considering I don't have a vagina.

[Allereli]

I was more concerned about Express, obviously, considering I don't have a vagina.

Last time I was in the Limited the "guy" at the checkout counter was a cross dresser with a very low voice. I'm not one to assume or judge.

[Stanley Burrell]

Bush admin.

And K-Mart.

[The Ponzzz]

Doesn't Sears own K-mart (or the other way around)?

[Bobmuhthol]

KMart, which went bankrupt like 3 fucking times, bought Sears and changed the name of the company to Sears Holdings because, for obvious reasons, Sears has a better name than KMart.

/former Sears employee

[diethx]

Doesn't Sears own K-mart

Yeah, there's some sort of partnership at the very least. I could use my Sears card at k-mart, if I ever actually shopped there.

[Stanley Burrell]

Damn it to hell.

[Sean of the Thread]

Sears essentials just closed down one here.
A pier 1 closed down one
Kb Toys closed down one


I can't really see Radio Shack falling out. Like someone mentioned above.. they've got like every doo dad electric thingy you can find when no place else does. Except they have jumped the shark a bit and are trying to re image themselves.

Seems to me their biggest sales now a days is cell phones and shit.

Hey I bought my Tandy1000SL from Radio Shack for like 29,000 dollars back in the day. Man my 5 1/4 " floppy ruled.


*Oh I'd put a close eye on Albertson's as well.

[Apathy]

Interesting:


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/technology/companies/15nortel.html

Nortel Seeks Bankruptcy Protection

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By IAN AUSTEN
Published: January 14, 2009

OTTAWA — Nortel Networks, the telecommunications company, filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States on Wednesday.

The move was accompanied by promises of yet another restructuring. Nortel has struggled to recover from the collapse of technology stocks early in the decade as well as an accounting scandal that led to criminal charges against its former management.

Nortel’s board unanimously approved the bankruptcy filing at a meeting in Toronto on Tuesday night. It appears to be an attempt to avoid $107 million in interest payments that are due on Thursday. That amount equals about 5 percent of the company’s rapidly depleting cash reserves.

“Nortel must be put on a sound financial footing once and for all,” the president and chief executive, Mike S. Zafirovski, said in a statement issued shortly after the company submitted its Chapter 11 filing in Delaware. “These actions are imperative so that Nortel can build on its core strengths and become the highly focused and financially sound leader in the communications industry.”

Since the beginning of the decade, Nortel has started a series of restructurings that have included 16 rounds of layoffs.

Some analysts, however, question whether the company will be able to persuade its creditors and the courts that it now has a formula for success, raising the prospect that its operations might be broken up or the company liquidated.

Investors had little apparent faith in the company whose shares once reached 123.10 Canadian dollars on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Adjusted for a 10 to 1 consolidation, they closed at just under 4 Canadian cents on Tuesday.

A further ominous sign for the company is its apparent inability to sell a business unit that makes Internet-related equipment, which Nortel put up for sale in September.

In November, Nortel announced a third-quarter loss of $3.4 billion, much of that related to write-downs in the value of several operating units.

The bankruptcy filing will also make it more difficult for Nortel to close sales in an already difficult market. Neither telecommunications companies nor large corporations, which Mr. Zafirovski had aimed at as Nortel’s great hope for sales, are likely to trust their communications systems to a company with an uncertain future.

The government of Canada has offered Nortel some support. Export Development Canada, a government-owned bank and insurer, has agreed to provide the company with up to $30 million in loans for the next 30 days. Nortel said in its statement that it was negotiating a longer-term arrangement.

About 6,000 of Nortel’s 26,000 remaining employees are based in Canada, many at its research labs in Ottawa. But it is unclear how far the Canadian government is willing to support the company. Unlike, say, automakers, it is possible that Nortel may shift many of its jobs now in Canada to low labor cost markets like India and China.

In its early restructurings, Nortel sold or closed its manufacturing operations and outsourced production. Nortel said it had an agreement with Flextronics, its crucial contract manufacturer, to continue supplying its operations until July. That deal, however, must be approved by a court in Toronto.

[Back]

People have mentioned Borders. I dunno, I’m not as big a reader as I used to be but I love Borders for their movie and music selection as well. I haven’t been to Barnes & Noble in years.

What are the book buyers opinions?

[Skeeter]

Amazon > Borders

Also there's an awesome local bookstore here that dominates both. I've seen both Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin in person at that store.

[The Ponzzz]

I tend to order books online, as most retail chain book stores never carry everything I want.

[Moist Happenings]

Office Depot, CompUSA, ACE Hardware

[Kuyuk]

I thought compusa filed a while ago?


K.

[Moist Happenings]

I thought compusa filed a while ago?


K.

I dunno. Might have. Haven't been paying too much attention. I knew they were struggling as much as Circuit City was since Best Buy took over the market basically, but I was pretty sure they were still around.