chicot60
05-06-2011, 02:35 PM
Blockbuster Canada goes bust
Chain's 400 stores will remain open for now
By Jameson Berkow, Financial Post May 6, 2011
More than six months after its U.S. parent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Blockbuster Canada Co. has been placed into receivership, hammering what is perhaps the final nail into the coffin of the neighbourhood video store.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice appointed consulting and accounting firm Grant Thornton Ltd. as receiver, according to documents filed Tuesday. Empowering it to "take possession of and exercise control over" Blockbuster Canada's assets, Grant Thornton has effectively been given control over the film and video game rental chain's more than 400 locations across Canada.
It will also be tasked with repaying the company's debt, listed in filings to be in excess of $67 million. Grant Thornton and Blockbuster Canada did not return requests for comment.
Blockbuster locations can be expected to continue normal operations at least for the immediate future.
Last year, the company closed five per cent of its locations, which it attributed at the time to business as usual.
"It is part of the regular course of business that we close stores every year," Barry Guest, vice-president and general manager of Blockbuster Canada, said in an interview with the Financial Post in September, one day after the U.S. chain filed for Chapter 11.
"It was only a matter of time before the Canadian operations of Blockbuster followed their American operations to bankruptcy," said Carmi Levy, an independent technology analyst based in London, Ont. "We saw it coming and were simply counting the days."
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Blockbuster+Canada+goes+bust/4737781/story.html#ixzz1LaD6dS1g
Chain's 400 stores will remain open for now
By Jameson Berkow, Financial Post May 6, 2011
More than six months after its U.S. parent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Blockbuster Canada Co. has been placed into receivership, hammering what is perhaps the final nail into the coffin of the neighbourhood video store.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice appointed consulting and accounting firm Grant Thornton Ltd. as receiver, according to documents filed Tuesday. Empowering it to "take possession of and exercise control over" Blockbuster Canada's assets, Grant Thornton has effectively been given control over the film and video game rental chain's more than 400 locations across Canada.
It will also be tasked with repaying the company's debt, listed in filings to be in excess of $67 million. Grant Thornton and Blockbuster Canada did not return requests for comment.
Blockbuster locations can be expected to continue normal operations at least for the immediate future.
Last year, the company closed five per cent of its locations, which it attributed at the time to business as usual.
"It is part of the regular course of business that we close stores every year," Barry Guest, vice-president and general manager of Blockbuster Canada, said in an interview with the Financial Post in September, one day after the U.S. chain filed for Chapter 11.
"It was only a matter of time before the Canadian operations of Blockbuster followed their American operations to bankruptcy," said Carmi Levy, an independent technology analyst based in London, Ont. "We saw it coming and were simply counting the days."
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Blockbuster+Canada+goes+bust/4737781/story.html#ixzz1LaD6dS1g