Mexican Billionaire Builds 28% Stake In Circuit City
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 11/18/2008
Mexico City — Mexican tycoon Ricardo Salinas Pliego has snatched up more than 47 million shares of Circuit City, making him the company’s largest shareholder.
Pliego, a billionaire whose conglomerate Grupo Salinas encompasses retailing, banking, TV broadcasting and wireless services, acquired more than 30 million shares over three days following Circuit City’s bankruptcy filing last week. He paid an average of 24 cents per share, Securities and Exchange Commission documents show.
Pliego now controls nearly 28 percent of Circuit City stock. By comparison, activist investor Mark Wattles, who successfully agitated for change on Circuit City’s board, holds a 6.5 percent stake in the company.
Forbes pegs the Pliego family as the world’s 154th wealthiest, with a net worth of $6.3 billion. Their holdings include Elektra, a leading Latin American CE and appliance chain that carries its own line of Elektra brand consumer electronics.
Another Mexican tycoon, former CompUSA owner Carlos Slim Helu, offered to buy Circuit City for $8 a share in 2003.
Clickhereto read TWICE's complete coverage of Circuit City and Tweeter.
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The market is showing us that there is no need for a big box CE retailer when they can go online and get the same products for less with the same expectation.There is no need to leave your home.They cannot provide the one on one service that the small or custom retailer offers.The small or custom retailers are more knowledgable in many cases and can provide service and installation to make up for over head and low margins
Barrett Monroe - 2008-19-11 14:07:00 EST -
if this guy is trying to make a small fortune in the electronics business he is going about it the right way......starting with a large fortune
boxcar - 2008-18-11 17:45:00 EST -
Lets hope that Pliego can help Circuit City better than Carlos Slim did with CompUSA.
I would think that these billionaires would consider it a challange to take a retail chain from rock bottom and turn it around to be number one. Anyone can go and buy up a company at its lowest and start liquidating everything. But to turn it around and go after the competition, shows real skill.
AceBandge - 2008-18-11 12:54:00 EST
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