Tower Records Looks for Buyer
by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 5/26/2003
Tower Records, which has been struggling financially for several years, has hired the Los Angeles investment banking firm Greif & Co. to find a buyer. The retailer has implemented two restructuring plans since 2001 in a bid to improve its financial performance, but has had only mixed results. Tower has been particularly hard hit by the decline in sales of recorded music. For the six-month period ended January 31, Tower's sales fell 8.2%, to $306.9 million, and the company had a loss from continuing operations of $33 million, compared to a loss of $10.7 million in the first half of fiscal 2002.
"Among the initiatives the company has taken in recent months are the sale of its Japanese division last fall and the closing of underperforming domestic stores. Tower's book operation has been revamped over the last two years and now consists of five freestanding stores plus book departments in all record stores. The sections carry as few as 50 titles and as many as 10,000. John Fraser, head of Tower's book group, said the books segment has been one of the retailer's best performers this year. Plans for the rest of 2003 include expanding the book departments in 10 of Tower's larger stores."
