Mervyn's To File Bankruptcy

Looks like the financial crisis facing America continues to claim the life of corporations.

Mervyn's is now closing the remainder of its stores and filing bankruptcy.

The country's growing economic malaise offered another local hit Friday, with the announcement that Mervyns will be closing all of its retail outlets -- including the Bayshore Mall's south anchor.

The Hayward-based company announced Friday that it is declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will be closing its remaining 149 stores in California, including the Eureka location. Neither the Eureka store manager nor the corporate office were willing to answer further questions about the number of employees that will be put out of work, nor the store's history.

However, Eureka Main Street Executive Director Charlotte McDonald confirmed that Mervyns along with Sears and JC Penney were anchor stores when the Bayshore Mall opened in 1987.

The announcement from Mervyns corporate office in Hayward noted that going-out-of-business sales would be held during the holiday season, but no specific dates were offered for the stores' closure.

”We are disappointed with this outcome but the company's declining liquidity position and the extremely challenging retail environment, together with the fact that we have exhausted all other possibilities, requires we take this action,” Mervyns CEO John Goodman said in the company's announcement.

The news follows the company's attempt to fight its way back from a retail slump earlier this year. In July, efforts were undertaken to restructure its debt, according to reports at the time.

Companies are facing ever growing challenges during the economic turmoil facing the nation, and/or world right now.

One has to wonder, out of 149 stores, how many jobs is that, that are now gone?

Ebay Cutting 10% Workforce

We are always following the latest layoffs regarding Internet web sites. Many of us work from home, many of us make our income via online auctions, so this is important news. According to the NY Times...

The Internet company, eBay, announced Monday that it was laying off 10 percent of its work force, or about 1,000 permanent employees and several hundred temporary workers.

The announcement was largely unrelated to the potential economic impact of a slowdown in ecommerce. Rather, it represented an attempt by eBay to improve the performance of its core marketplace division, which has experienced declining, single-digit growth in the last few years while the rest of e-commerce grows at a double-digit clip. The company said it would take a pretax restructuring charge of $70 million to $80 million, largely in the fourth quarter.

“While never an easy decision to make, these reductions will help improve our operations and strengthen our ability to continue investing in growth,” John J. Donahoe, eBay’s chief executive, said in a statement.

The company also announced on Monday that it was acquiring Bill Me Later, an online payments firm based in Timonium, Md., for $945 million in cash and stock. eBay will combine the company, which enables payments online for companies like Wal-Mart Stores and Continental Airlines, with its rapidly growing PayPal division.

“We are making aggressive moves to strengthen our leadership positions in e-commerce and payments to competitively position our company for long-term growth,” Mr. Donahoe said. “Bill Me Later is a perfect complement to our portfolio, a company that belongs with PayPal. Together, PayPal and Bill Me Later will make online payments safer, easier and more convenient than ever.”

Keeping internet payments safe should be the first priority.

Today's investment tip: Right now, due to the war in Iraq, and the current financial crisis, invest your money in gold ;)