Borders chain names new CEO

Borders Group Inc., which has struggled along with other booksellers as people buy more books online and from discounters, announced a new chief executive and other top managers Monday as it reported weak holiday sales.

The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company also warned that its stock was in danger of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have lost nearly all of their value in recent months amid larger-than-expected losses and financing trouble.

Borders named Ron Marshall, 54, the founder of private equity firm Wildridge Capital Management, to replace George Jones as CEO and also serve as president and a director.

The company noted that Marshall had been involved in other turnaround projects as CEO of food distributor and retailer Nash Finch Co. during its financial difficulties and as chief financial officer of Pathmark Stores Inc., now a unit of Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.

Before his tenure at Pathmark, Marshall held senior management roles at Dart Group Corp.’s Crown Books unit and at the college bookstores unit of Barnes & Noble Inc.

That book retailing experience might be a little dated, said Michael Norris, a senior analyst for Stamford, Conn.-based Simba Information. He said he believed Jones’ approach had been effective but investors must have thought it wasn’t working rapidly enough.

Borders, like many retailers, saw its holiday sales drop as shoppers who were worried about the economy and their jobs reined in spending. For the nine weeks that ended Jan. 3, sales were $868.8 million, down 11.7% from the same period a year earlier.

The drop was especially significant because the holiday season is a key period in which retailers typically record a good portion of their business for the year.

Borders stock, which traded at $11.60 a year ago and in the $20 range in 2007, rose 13 cents, or 29%, to close at 58 cents.