Sinking ship pays $1 million to stay afloat!!!

[ellen_datlow]

I just read in Publishers Weekly that new Borders CEO Ron Marshall will get $1 million base salary plus signing bonus for the first of his three year contract. Then, for the next two years he only gets $750,000. Gee, I'm definitely on the wrong end of publishing.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I believe WaMu hired a new guy and paid him a shitload shortly before they went under, too... I went into the local Borders a few days after Xmas and it looked as if they were already in the morgue. There used to be a case displaying new releases in the SF section. It was totally gone. The Star Wars/Forgotten Realms/FranchiseFic section appeared to have taken over a full aisle, while original fiction had shrunk to a couple of opposing shelves (much of their previous territory now covered in an explosion of manga). The other departments didn't look much healthier. At the other end of town, Barnes & Noble looked superficially healthier. - MarcL

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

In the PW article, it was acknowledged by the outgoing CEO that "Borders may have gone too far in cutting inventory..."

What a joke these morons are.

[kylecassidy.livejournal.com]

good grief. i'd better use this gift card fast.

cutting inventory to the bone

[parrismcb.livejournal.com]

made my visits to the local Borders frustrating and eventually meaningless. Couldn't get new books written by New Mexican writers. Couldn't get any music or dvds if they weren't on the top 20.The Borders and Best Buys have cut back on music inventory so much, I just order on-line without even bothering to see if the new Van Morrison is on the racks locally. The 2 Borders in Santa Fe fill up the aisles with remainders and trinkets, paper products and towers of teen vampire books, little room for mid-list, let alone back list titles.

The CEO getting a bigger share of a shrinking pie is one more example of what's been wrong with American business culture for a long time.