Canada’s Sunrise Records just made a last-second bid to buy HMV worldwide

HMV is in big trouble. The Canadian version is gone. HMV Hong Kong is dead. Stores have disappeared in a host of other countries. And now HMV UK is in administration (i.e. gone bankrupt) again.

There have been a few offers to pick up the pieces. A company called Sports Direct (owned by billionaire Mike Ashley, the owner of Newcastle United) signaled they were interested. There was also interest shown by a company called BuyVia.

Now, though, a surprise. Doug Putnam, the CEO of Sunrise Records based in Ancaster, Ontario, has made a bid for HMV UK. Putman previously took over 70 HMV stores in Canada and turned them all into Sunrise Records locations.

How many of the remaining 125 stores does he want? Uncertain, but some reports point to Sunrise taking about two-thirds of them. With ~90 locations, Sunrise would immediately become a major player in the UK. And on the eve of Brexit, too. Bold.

The Sports Direct offer needs to be negotiated this week. If not, the door is wide open for Sunrise.

Damn, this is getting interesting. Read more here and here.