Gizmodo: chapter 11

Psystar Files for Bankruptcy

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:46:17 EDT

Psystar—those guys who were pilfering software from the Hackintosh project to run Mac OS X in blah PC hardware—has filed for Chapter 11. Good riddance, is all I can say. Although this may be a shady legal strategy on their part.

Under Federal bankruptcy protection laws, all cases against the company should be put on hold. This means that Apple will have to wait on their case against Psystar. The first bankruptcy hearing will be held in Florida next June 5. At that time, we may find who the hell are the financial backers behind the company.

But while all this happens, the keep selling machines on their site. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't get near these guys even while wearing a biochemical war suit. [Mac Observer]

Circuit City Trying to Sell, Liquidation Possible After January 16th

Sean Fallon — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:00:00 EST

Ever since Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection in November, everyone has been wondering how long they would hang on. Today they clarified their present situation, indicating that liquidation is possible after January 16th.

Currently, Circuit City is negotiating with "two interested parties" about selling off the company in a going concern transaction. The motion, filed with the Bankruptcy court indicates that an auction of the company and its assets would commence on January 13, and a sale hearing would occur on January 16, 2009. If a sale does not occur, the company can begin to liquidate. The full details are available in the press release, but the long-and-short of it is that the clock is ticking on Circuit City unless they can get a deal done really, really soon. [Circuit City via Yahoo]

Question of the Day: Will You Miss Circuit City?

Sean Fallon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST

As you probably already heard, Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today, becoming the latest, and biggest casualty of the recent economic downturn. Keep in mind that filling for Chapter 11 does not necessarily mean that Circuit City will cease to exist—it means that the company will be given debt relief and an opportunity to reorganize. Still, there is a very real possibility that this reorganization could fail and Circuit City will cease operations altogether. So my question is: would you miss Circuit City if it completely bit the dust?

Circuit City Goes Bankrupt, Files for Chapter 11 Protection

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:02:00 EST

After closing 155 stores last week, Circuit City has finally bitten the dust. The electronics store chain—with 721 stores in the US and 770 in Canada—has filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia, pressured by the recession and competition from Best Buy and Wal-Mart. However, it may not be the end for the chain yet.

• January 2008: Increases a credit agreement from $500 to $1.3 billion.
• May 2008: Circuit City tries to sell itself to Blockbuster Inc., after the latter makes an offer that is later withdrawn. At this time, they fire employees with higher salaries and opens smallest stores.
• September 2008: Reports loss of $239.2 million, after sales fell for the sixth straight quarter.
• November 3: Last week they closed a fifth of their US stores, firing twenty percent of their 43,000-people workforce.
• November 10: Files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Lists $3.4 billion in assets and $2.32 billion in liabilities, owes HP $119 million and Samsung $116 million. It lost $5 billion in stock market value in just two years.

Circuit City has said that their intention is to keep normal operations in their current stores. In theory, under a Chapter 11 reorganization, companies get a chance to avoid closing, reorganize debt and survive. According to Gary Merson from HD Guru, a local store representative has said that they will even keep honoring and selling gift cards during this period. [Bloomberg — Thanks Gary]

Bye-Bye SGI: Former Workstation Giant Bankrupt

Charlie White — Mon, 08 May 2006 13:53:24 EDT

Back in the day, some of us older codgers here at Gizmodo used to drop our jaws at whatever SGI would do. But now, Silicon Graphics Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and things aren't looking good for the once-dominant giant of the techno-mofo workstation industry. SGI will restructure in an attempt to keep away those vultures to whom it owes money, until the company can figure out something. Why did this happen? According to SGI, the company was...

"...challenged by delays in introducing new technology, a focus on more specialized markets and more intense competition from larger rivals."

SGI used to be the bad boys who would astonish everyone with multiprocessor monster workstations, usually costing well over $100,000. Now similar computing power is available hanging in packages on either side of the checkout line at Wal-Mart. Bye-bye, SGI.

Silicon Graphics goes titsup [The Register]