Dick's Capitalizes on SA Bankruptcy

[silverking]

Dick's Sporting Goods has won the race to acquire the intellectual property assets of its bankrupt rival, Sports Authority, along with 31 of the store leases.

The Pittsburgh-based retailer, which boasts 647 stores across the US, was named the successful bidder in the auction and has agreed to pay $15 million for the intellectual property rights, which includes 'highly valuable' customer data, and $8million-plus fees for the right to acquire the store leases.

The data is said to include information on 28.5 million loyalty programme members and a list of 114 million customer files.

The deal needs to be approved by the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware at a meeting scheduled for July 15th. Denver-based Sports Authority, which filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in March with more than $1 billion in debt, was a leading supplier of fishing tackle from its 450 stores across the US.

In Dick's first quarter conference call, CEO Edward Stack said that the company will benefit from the demise of Sports Authority and the closure of more than 200 outlets within five miles of its own stores. Within ten miles of a Dick's location, that total rises to more than 350.

He told investors: "Once this consolidation works its way through the system, we are poised to pick up significant market share."

[DEMON]

A perfect example of how valuable your personal "customer" info is to a retailer. And that was bankruptcy pricing.

[silverking]

Thought the same thing, Demon. Imagine Academy and others were bidding heavily too.