A U.S. bankruptcy court has approved the sale of a majority of Troll Communications' inventory to Scholastic. The deal was expected to be completed on July 3. Troll, once a major force in the book club and book fair market, filed for Chapter 11 in mid-May and had a tentative agreement to sell some of its assets to Scholastic for $4 million.
Executives had held out some hope that the sale of those assets, as well as fresh financing, would give the company the money to begin a turnaround, but Troll CEO Peter Bergen told PW that the company was unable to raise new capital. "We had some other interest, but ultimately Scholastic had the winning bid," Bergen said. When the sale to Scholastic is completed, Troll will close, Bergen said.
According to Bergen, whatever assets remain after the sale to Scholastic will be sold off over time. Troll, which sold its book fair business to Scholastic in 2001, currently has about 60 employees at its New Jersey headquarters and 90 in its warehouse, few of whom are expected to join Scholastic. The demise of Troll, once Scholastic's primary competitor, gives Scholastic an even firmer grip on the school book club market.
