Borders Group Inc. has agreed to sell itself to private investment firm Najafi Cos. for $215 million and is seeking court approval for the agreement. Najafi Cos., which owns the Book-of-the-Month Club, also will assume $220 million in debt. The agreement is tentative. The bid will open an auction fo
r the company and its assets, so a higher bid is possible. A bankruptcy court hearing is set for July 21. Borders is the second largest traditional book store chain in the country.
‘FarmVille’ creator Zynga to go public
Zynga, the online game maker behind “FarmVille” and other popular Facebook pastimes, is going public. Based on papers filed Friday, Zynga Inc. hopes to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering. This amount will likely change. It’s the fourth and likely biggest in a crop of high-valued Internet IPOs recently filed or expected soon. LinkedIn Corp. and Internet radio service Pandora Inc. were first to go public. Daily deals site Groupon Inc. also has filed to go public soon.
GoDaddy.com is sold for $2.25B
The parent company of GoDaddy.com, a top registrar of Internet domain names, has been sold to a group of private investment firms for $2.25 billion, a person familiar with the transaction told The Associated Press. Go Daddy Group Inc.’s sale to KKR, Silver Lake and Technology Crossover Ventures comes as the company expects to top $1.1 billion in revenue this year because expanding Internet use has fueled the creation of more websites and the “domains” needed to help find them. Go Daddy announced the sale late Friday but didn’t confirm the sale price.
FAA: Tired controllers can skip work
The Federal Aviation Administration announced steps Friday to help prevent air traffic controllers from falling asleep on the job, including allowing controllers to use sick or annual leave time if too tired to work. Controllers will now be allowed to listen to the radio and read to help stay alert during overnight shifts. The policy changes don’t include allowing controllers to take naps while on break or to schedule naps during overnight shifts, even though sleep scientists say that’s the most effective way to refresh tired workers. Since April, the FAA has disclosed seven instances of controllers sleeping on the job.
Teamsters nominate 3 for union election
Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will choose between three candidates vying to be the powerful union’s next president in its November election. General President James Hoffa won more than 1,300 votes during a nomination process Thursday. He is seeking a third five-year term. Rivals Fred Gegare won 141 votes and Sandy Pope collected 137 votes. Pope is the first woman to run for the title in the union’s 108-year history.
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