RadioShack survives bankruptcy with 1,743 stores

Fort Worth, Texas – In what may be a tale of survival to rival the PT 109 ordeal of John F. Kennedy, RadioShack Corp. will exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy with some 1,700 stores intact.



A bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved the sale of 1,743 RadioShack stores to hedge fund Standard General, preserving some 7,500 jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported. Standard General intends to operate most of the preserved RadioShack stores in an alliance with Sprint Corp.



In addition to keeping close to half of RadioShack’s roughly 4,000 stores open, the deal also saves about 7.500 jobs and the RadioShack name. Standard General will operate most of the stores in partnership with Sprint Corp. and focus on bringing mobile consumers to RadioShack.



The roughly $160 million bid was the highest RadioShack received. The official committee of RadioShack’s unsecured creditors supported Standard General’s offer, although Salus Capital Partners, which claimed it did not get a fair chance to make a bid during the RadioShack bankruptcy auction in March, opposed approval of the Standard General bid and wanted bidding reopened. Salus Capital also said the Standard General bid is risky because much of its financing is based on Standard General forgiving RadioShack for debt it is owed.