TechLuver.com

- Retail Store Operations Will Wind-Down, Offering Consumers Attractive Holiday Bargains on Computer and Electronics Products

DALLAS, Dec 07, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ — CompUSA today announced that it has been acquired by an affiliate of Gordon Brothers Group, LLC, a global advisory, restructuring and investment firm specializing in retail, consumer products, real estate and industrial sectors. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Gordon Brothers Group will initiate an orderly wind-down of CompUSA’s retail store operations and is engaged in discussions with various parties regarding the sale of certain assets. CompUSA’s 103 retail stores will remain open and staffed during the holiday season, and will offer consumers attractive bargains on computer and electronic products as part of store closing sales.

Active discussions are under way to sell select stores in key markets as well as the company’s highly-regarded technical services business,
CompUSA TechPro, and its productive Internet sales operation, CompUSA.com. CompUSA TechPro and CompUSA.com will be operated by the company as going concerns until any sale transactions are closed.

CompUSA will be run by Bill Weinstein, a Principal at Gordon Brothers Group, acting as Interim President, and by Stephen Gray, Managing Partner at restructuring firm CRG Partners, who will serve as Chief Restructuring Officer. Current CEO Roman Ross will continue to serve the company in an executive advisory capacity during the transition period.

DJM Realty, a Gordon Brothers Group company that specializes in real estate disposition and valuations, will assist in assessing the leases for
CompUSA’s store locations. More at PRNewsWire.

Tokyo, Japan — October 22, ‘07 — Microsoft is cutting the Japanese price of its Xbox 360 games console by 13% as it struggles to match sales of rivals Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3. Following similar price cuts earlier this year in the US and Europe, the standard model will now sell for 34,800 yen ($304).

Earlier this month, Sony also cut the cost of the PlayStation in the US and introduced a cheaper version. Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are now trailing behind sales of the Wii. Nintendo has a strong lead, not just in the Japanese market, but also in wider global sales.

In the first half of 2007, Microsoft sold 122,565 units of the Xbox 360 in Japan, compared with 503,554 PlayStation 3 units and 1.78 million of the Wii. Microsoft’s basic Xbox 360 model will now sell in Japan for 29,800 yen ($258).

More at BBC News

Rollbacks roll on as research shows retailer saved families more than $600 last holiday season. BENTONVILLE, Ark., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Wal-Mart today affirmed its aggressive holiday pricing plan, increasing rollbacks by 20 percent over last year. With 15,000 items reduced this week, Wal-Mart is poised to increase customer savings even more this year.
New figures release today by Global Insight, a leader in economic and financial analysis, found Wal-Mart saved the average family $652 over the busy October through December shopping months. The findings are based on the independent research unveiled last month on Wal-Mart’s economic impact on household savings. Global Insight found that in 2006, Wal-Mart saved families $287 billion, or $2,500 on average per household. Some families saved even more, depending on where they live.

“In an effort to help stretch the dollar, we’re giving customers an early start on holiday savings with even more targeted price cuts to come,” said Bill Simon, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Wal-Mart. “These rollbacks are just the start of special values we’ll unveil now through December to remind people that our prices will remain unbeatable and you will save money on great products here.”

With the $652 in savings, this season Mom could buy every toy on Wal-Mart’s top 12 toy list plus five full tanks of gas for a family road trip!

Reuters reports, “Nokia slashed this week around 15 percent off the price of its 3G phone model E65, one of the top sales and profit generators for the world’s largest cellphone maker, market data showed on Friday.

Nokia sold more than one million E65s in the second quarter, making it one of the top three products for the firm. It will report July-September results on Oct. 18, but analysts said all signs showed good sales of the phone had continued. Nokia said the E65 price cut was part of its normal price adjustments after the phone had been on the market for more than six months.

More at Reuters