“It’s been a tough decision but in-store business has all but disappeared. Mail order shouldn’t change too much because of this but there definitely will be changes — different phone number, different hours, more used instead of new books listed — but all in all, things should be pretty much as is… I’ll still be attending conventions… I’ll be in San Diego for World Fantasy and Chicago for WindyCon so come and see me at either one.”

Books-A-Million president Terry Finley said, “We will not promote titles in our stores… if publishers choose to pursue these exclusive arrangements that create an uneven playing field in the marketplace.”

For more information, see the write-up in Publishers Weekly.

With no bidders interested in keeping the bookstore chain as a going concern, Borders chose to cancel the planned July 19 auction, and instead announced plans to submit a liquidation plan from Hilco and Gordon Brothers to the bankruptcy court for approval. Assuming approval goes smoothly, liquidation is set to begin July 22, 2011. The company’s remaining 399 stores will close (though some prime locations may be taken over by other booksellers), and 11,000 employees will be let go. Closures are expected to be finished by September 2011. Borders expects to pay vendors for any expenses incurred during the liquidation process.

Investor Jaham Najafi, who was seen as the company’s best hope to continue, withdrew his bid last week after a disagreement over terms with the company’s creditors.

Ferrier Hodgson partners were appointed as administrators, and FH partner Steve Sherman plans for business as usual while administrators assess the business’s finances and prepare to meet with creditors. The flagship Borders franchise plans to continue operations in the short term. The failure is not linked to the US Borders, which is owned by a different corporation, but occurred for similar reasons: the market shift to Internet purchasing and soft sales in general.

See Brisbane Times for more.

The bookseller announced it had received a commitment for $505 million in Debtor-in-Possession (DIP) financing led by GE Capital which, according to the company, “should enable Borders to meet its obligations going forward.” Previous negotiations for an unsecured $550 loan with GE Capital fell through because the retailer wasn’t able to meet benchmarks including securing additional funding. Borders expects to maintain employee payroll and benefits, and to honor gift cards and the Borders Rewards program.

Borders Group President Mike Edwards said, “It has become increasingly clear that in light of the environment of curtailed customer spending… and the company’s lack of liquidity, Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor.” The bookseller’s lackluster performance is seen as a result of factors including the decision in 2001 to transfer online business to Amazon, too much overseas expansion, an aggressive  buy back of stock, problems with long-term store leases, and a failure to compete with the Kindle and Nook for e-book and e-reader sales.

Ken Hiltz has been named senior vice president, restructuring of the company; advisory firms include Jefferies & Company for financial restructuring services; DJM Property Management for real estate advisory services; and AP services for interim restructuring and management services.

See Publishers Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, and Borders Reorganization for more.

Borders had announced on Thursday, January 27 that it had secured a $550 million line of credit from GE Capital, on conditions that publishers agree to turn missed payments into a loan; that other lenders are found; and that finances are renegotiated with vendors, landlords, and others on terms “satisfactory to GE Capital.” Underperforming stores will also be closed.

Publishers are wary: according to Publishers Weekly: “Before Sunday’s announcement, some publishers were willing to let Borders file for Chapter 11 and Sunday’s move will likely reinforce that conviction” but some publishers may not support a debtor in possession filing, which would require Borders to file Chapter 7 and liquidate the company. A publishing executive who did not want to be identified told Reuters, “I don’t know there is a lot of optimism on the publishers’ part that Borders and GE Capital can agree to terms that will give a renewed confidence in their ability to move forward and be a viable retailer and a financially stable one that pays their bills promptly.”

Borders share prices fell 14% to 73 cents per share on the Monday after the announcement.

See The Detroit News for more information.

The company’s share price fell by more than 15% following the announcement. Borders Group may sell off some assets to increase available cash, but its future is uncertain, with “no assurance that any refinancing will come through.”

Amazon vice president Russ Grandinetti said, “Authors are an important community for us … We’re really happy to make it easy and free for them to see geographical BookScan data updated weekly, as well as historical Amazon bestsellers rank, for their books. We hope this creates an improved feedback loop for authors and enables them to develop more effective methods for reaching the widest possible audience.”

Bookscan compiles sales data from various sources — primarily chain bookstores — and tracks around 75% of book sales for most titles.

Google has also partnered indy bookstores Powell’s, Alibris, and set of participating members – currently 220 stores — of the American Booksellers Association, allowing the booksellers to sell Google eBooks on their own websites. Publishers will get 70% of revenue, and sellers will share the remaining 30% with Google in an as-yet undisclosed split. Michael Tucker, president of the American Booksellers Association in Tarrytown NY, says, “We think this will be a boon for independent booksellers to offer customers digital format books. We wanted to [join the e-book market], but we had no ability to do that until now.”

Abraham Murray, product manager of Google Books, has stated in a public post that Google now offers more than three million titles, hundreds of thousands of which are for sale in the Google eBookstore. Murray also states that since the Google Books launch in 2004, Google has “digitized more than 15 million books from more than 35,000 publishers, more than 40 libraries, and more than 100 countries in more than 400 languages.”