FORMERLY PE OWNED
RadioShack
Includes Radio Shack
electronics · Fort Worth, TX
- PE Firm
- Standard General
- Year Acquired
- 2015
Bought RadioShack out of bankruptcy, bet the whole turnaround on a Sprint co-branding gimmick, and bankrupted it again in under two years.
What Happened
- Standard General's affiliate General Wireless, bidding with Sprint, won 1,743 RadioShack stores and their inventory out of the first bankruptcy in 2015 for about $160.7 million — most of it paid not in cash but by forgiving debt RadioShack already owed them
- General Wireless then picked up the RadioShack brand name and customer data for another $26.2 million — the famous 94-year-old name went for less than the cost of a few Manhattan storefronts
- The turnaround plan: co-brand roughly 1,440 locations with Sprint, splitting store space between RadioShack products and Sprint wireless — an awkward marriage from day one
- Filed for bankruptcy again in March 2017 — less than two years after Standard General's 'rescue' — and creditors later alleged Sprint sabotaged the partnership by building competing stores near the best co-branded locations using confidential sales data
The Damage Done
- A brand that once had over 7,000 locations and was synonymous with American electronics retail was reduced to a zombie brand licensing its name online
- Creditors alleged Sprint's actions destroyed nearly 6,000 RadioShack jobs as co-branded stores were undermined by new Sprint stores built nearby
- Hobbyists, makers, and DIY electronics enthusiasts lost the last major brick-and-mortar source for components, soldering supplies, and niche electronics
- Remaining stores that converted to Sprint-only locations abandoned RadioShack's original customer base entirely