Hasta La Creative!

After months of speculation, the bid for RadioShack by Soohyung Kim’s hedge fund Standard General was officially approved in bankruptcy court, saving the ailing electronics retailer from imminent liquidation. While RadioShack’s road to bankruptcy has been long and well documented (the company was last profitable in 2011), Mr. Kim sees promise where others did not.

Through Standard General, Mr. Kim has taken over approximately 1,700 of RadioShack’s 4,000 stores. Mr. Kim believes that aspects of RadioShack’s legacy business can thrive even today, and he seeks to position RadioShack as a neighborhood electronics convenience store. Rather than focus on the latest high-end gadgets like laptops, tablets, and mobile phones (a battle being lost to online retailers), it will move toward becoming a quick-stop shop for oft-forgotten or misplaced items such as headsets, chargers and other accessories we can’t live without. He’s betting on the fact that this aspect of RadioShack’s business — the less sexy side of electronics retail — has real potential.

For all of Mr. Kim’s faith in the company, though, the one asset conspicuously missing from Standard General’s takeover agreement is the rights to the RadioShack name. So, Mr. Kim, why not include the rights to a 94-year-old, highly-recognizable brand name in your takeover agreement?

Continue reading at AdAge.com