Buying Border's Intangible Assets

According to BusinessWire, there was a vigorous auction for Border’s intangible assets last week:

Ten bidders participated in the robust proceedings, including booksellers, major publishing companies and internet only retailers. The auction included more than 50 rounds of bidding before the winning bidders emerged.

The news stories are all about Border’s trademark, internet domain and website — which apparently went to Barnes & Noble for $13.9 million. However, as Publishers Weekly points out:

Earlier court documents also listed Borders’s membership lists, customer information, including contact information and e-mail addresses and other purchasing history and related information, as among the assets to be auctioned.

Interestingly, Publishers Weekly also notes that the brand was sold off in geographical bits and pieces:

Other assets went to overseas parties that had operated Borders stores in different parts of the world: Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd. paid $450,000 for Borders trademarks in Australia and New Zealand; Popular Holdings Ltd. paid $100,000 for the Singapore trademarks; Berjaya Books paid $825,000 for trademarks in Malaysia; and Al Maya International paid $500,000 for trademarks in “certain Gulf countries including the United Arab Emirates.”

I wonder how that is going to work in an globally integrated market.

Details of exactly who bought what will be revealed at a court hearing on Sept. 20. And then we will have to wait for the Barnes & Noble’s SEC filings to see how they book those intangibles – and for how much.

Read more at The Intangible economy