Circuit City Web site rises from the dead to sell electronics again
If you thought you had seen the last of Circuit City, you would be wrong.
In January of this year, it was announced that the 60-year-old electronics retailer Circuit City was bankrupt and liquidating their business. The company immediately started having close out sales at all of their remaining retail outlets, and the last of those closed on March 8, 2009.
As part of their attempt to recoup whatever money they could, trademarks, trade names, domains including www.CircuitCity.com, customer lists and information, and other intangible assets of the company’s e-commerce business were sold at auction to Systemax Inc. If the name isn’t familiar to you, it is better known as TigerDirect in North America.
The deal consisted of $14 million dollars cash payment now, and a percentage of sales generated by the re-launched Circuit City over the next 30-months. While the percentage guaranteed to them has not been released, Systemax Inc. did say that the minimum pay out for that portion of the deal is an additional $3 million in cash.
For those who may not remember, Systemax Inc. was also the company that bought up the online assets of another failed computer chain, CompUSA. It would seem they are making quite a business out of just buying up the remains of failed competitors. Even before the recent purchase of Circuit City, Internet Retailer named the company the 21st largest online retailing company for 2009, and the 9th largest in the Computers and Electronics category in their Top 500 Guide for 2009. It is unknown if the newest purchase will be enough to move them up the list.
The Circuit City website is back up and running now, but the retail stores were not part of the deal, and those will remain closed.
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