dingojoe

Borders to Sell Paperchase: A Good Short-Term Move

A Message From George Jones
Wed May 14 2008

"We are moving forward rapidly on our path to significantly reduce expenses. As you know, we've been working with an outside consulting firm to help us in this process and have an internal team that is focused on getting our expenses where they need to be to operate in this challenging economic environment, as well as properly position our company for the longer term.

To address payroll expenses, we have already put on hold or decided not to fill many open positions, such as the Chief Marketing Officer post. Today, I am announcing a next step that is a difficult, but necessary one. We have made the decision to eliminate several positions at the director and vice president level. The individuals impacted by this decision have been informed over the past few days and we are working with each of them on transition plans. They include: Susan Zewicke, VP, Seasonal Business, Airport, and Corporate Sales; Myles Romero, VP, Strategic Marketing and Entertainment Alliances; Julie Janusz, VP, Strategic Planning and Organizational Development; Beryl Needham, VP, Merchandising (Proprietary, Fiction, Diversity, and Bargain); Gordon Eiland, VP, Paperchase Strategy and Business Development; Susan Mann, Director, Benefits; Tom Dwyer, Director, Fiction and Proprietary; and Carey Wallace, Director, Internal Audit.

I'm sure you can understand that the decision to eliminate these positions was extremely tough, as these individuals have made significant contributions to our organization. I want to thank each of them for their hard work and dedication and wish them well going forward."

Ruthless turnaround or death-spiral? Always hard to tell.