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7 companies that won't make it to 2020
MSN Money ^ | 12/9/2009 | Michael Brush

Posted on 12/09/2009 7:34:19 AM PST by SeekAndFind

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To: clintonh8r

What’s wrong with Borders?


21 posted on 12/09/2009 7:55:36 AM PST by Borges
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To: Frantzie

GE has recently sold control of NBC Universal to Comcast.


22 posted on 12/09/2009 7:56:46 AM PST by Borges
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To: SeekAndFind
[For smaller, undiversified newspaper companies burdened with huge debt loads, time is running out.]

Newspaper companies began diversifying as early as the 1960’s by buying up small daily papers in markets—like the Sunbelt—that would later grow. They also began buying network-affiliated television stations in the same markets. This foresight by one generation of publishers was later wasted, in many instances, by the next generation. For example The New York Times Company two years ago sold off all their television stations—potentially the one sector of their holdings with a future—for half a billion dollars. They used this money to prop up their stock price, invest in on-line projects and pay off bills at the flagship paper in New York. More recently the Times Company has been selling some of its chain of small dailies across the South. The mentality is to cannibalize their assets in a doomed effort to keep publishing the New York Times each day to a shrinking population of loyal readers.

23 posted on 12/09/2009 8:00:05 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: Little Pig
Magellan, Garmin, whomever... the end product can be as fantastic as they want, but unless the constellation of GPS satellites is maintained, it is all for naught.

The current administration has shown severe incompetence with the U.S. budget and I suspect GPS will start to fall by the wayside in the not-to-distant future due to their malfeasance.

24 posted on 12/09/2009 8:00:47 AM PST by rjsimmon (1-20-2013 The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: SeekAndFind

Add the communist seized General Motors, Chrysler, and Bank of America.


25 posted on 12/09/2009 8:02:40 AM PST by FormerACLUmember (The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. - H. L. Menken.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Their debt is back stopped by Uncle Sam. $500 billion. The rating agencies are lying again. They did pretty well rating mortgage backed securities.


26 posted on 12/09/2009 8:04:17 AM PST by Frantzie (Judge David Carter - democrat & dishonorable Marine like John Murtha.)
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To: SeekAndFind

And Verizon goes on & on

There is no God


27 posted on 12/09/2009 8:06:36 AM PST by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: netmilsmom
Now Blockbuster is horrible. 5.00 to rent a movie overnight

??? I like Blockbuster ... At my Blockbuster,'old' movies are $.99 per night & $2.99 for new releases for 1 night. Probably because there were 2 RedBoxs across the street.

I hate RedBox ... long lines at the ones where I live & nothing good ever there.

28 posted on 12/09/2009 8:09:40 AM PST by Lurking in Kansas (Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down their level, then beat you with experience.)
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To: Borges

RE: What’s wrong with Borders

The article explains thusly :

Like Blockbuster, Borders (BGP, news, msgs) is getting hit by technological changes that leave it dazed and confused. First came the Internet, which brought the competitive pricing of Amazon. Lately, price competition has gotten even worse, with Wal-Mart slashing prices on best-sellers and Amazon matching the cuts.

Now Amazon’s e-book reader, the Kindle, is gaining in popularity. With the Kindle, readers just download books, which are sold at lower prices. Next, readers will be using computers and computer notebooks to do the same. All of this eviscerates the need for a brick-and-mortar bookstore such as Borders, with the high costs associated with stores and inventory, Stevens says.

Borders has dealt with these challenges by aggressively cutting costs. But it’s running out of room for that tactic, says Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter.

This means that, for Borders, the final page is being written.

Borders responds that bookstores will continue to coexist with digital book formats and online vendors because people who love books will continue to seek “community,” or a place where “they can be surrounded by the books they love, meet others who share their passion for books and engage in the sheer joy and indulgence of spending hours exploring.”


29 posted on 12/09/2009 8:10:32 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: Lurking in Kansas

Why would I go to Blockbuster when I can discipline myself to NOT watch a movie until 6 months later when my PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM will have it and I can borrow it for free ?


30 posted on 12/09/2009 8:12:06 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: Le Chien Rouge
I agree with you on Macy's. They took on a ton of debt when the purchased federated and then did not consolidate their operations until it was too late. I am not sure I agree with you on JCP though. I would like to hear your thoughts on that.

Thanks!

31 posted on 12/09/2009 8:14:12 AM PST by HOYA97 (Hoya Saxa = What Rocks)
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To: SeekAndFind

I hate Blockbuster. Their selection strinks and they’re a massive strip mall eyesore.


32 posted on 12/09/2009 8:14:15 AM PST by Borges
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To: SeekAndFind

I read the article. I was responding to a poster who said they ‘deserved’ it.


33 posted on 12/09/2009 8:14:57 AM PST by Borges
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To: SeekAndFind

Well you could use that argument for pretty much every source of entertainment. Meanwhile library usage is actually going down in this country, so apparently people aren’t into waiting.


34 posted on 12/09/2009 8:15:33 AM PST by discostu (The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression)
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To: Borges

Nothing...if they are protected and enforced.


35 posted on 12/09/2009 8:25:00 AM PST by Osage Orange (Obama's a self-made man who worships his own creator...............)
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To: padre35
>>> "Odd he did not mention MSNBC or CNBC..." <<<

I agree with you, but in truth NO companies will survive past the end of the Mayan Calender 2012.

36 posted on 12/09/2009 8:25:04 AM PST by hennie pennie
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To: Le Chien Rouge

BofA?Why?


37 posted on 12/09/2009 8:26:16 AM PST by QQQQ
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To: rjsimmon

Although you may be right (and I happen to think that, since the military uses the GPS system they’ll find a way to keep it maintained despite the Zer0), that’s outside the scope of the original article, which looked at the problem solely from a company viability perspective.


38 posted on 12/09/2009 8:26:35 AM PST by Little Pig (Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I love the chaos of Borders and much prefer it to the regimented B&N.

As for Blockbuster their problems go well beyond “a great example of how technological change can crush winners that fail to keep up.” Their constant and egregious abuse of their market position had many customers abandoning them well before Netflix asserted its might. From the retail spaces which were more concerned with add-a-sale than core business to the army of snotty staff and ‘managers’ to the naked avarice of ever-changing late fees (for which they were pummeled in court) no ‘industry leader’ ever did more to alienate its customers and justify its ignominious end.


39 posted on 12/09/2009 8:26:48 AM PST by relictele
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To: sig226

Sears and JCP are two of the anchors at our local mall. Sears carries Land’s End clothing which seems to be keeping it alive. For the life of me I don’t get JCP at all. Horrible stuff.


40 posted on 12/09/2009 8:27:16 AM PST by surrey
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