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Sharper Image Chairman Quits, Wants to Purchase Company

The slow train wreck that is the Sharper Image continues: today, Jerry Levin resigned as chairman of the beleagured retailer. This new wrinkle, though, has a bright side: Levin said that he and a group of investors are interested in acquiring some or all of the company’s assets.

Levin’s resignation and stated desire to purchase the company is “a good sign that the company will be restructured and sold,” according to Stuart Rose, managing partner for investment bank Tully & Holland, writes Multichannel Merchant. Though the Sharper Image will come out of Chapter 11 much smaller than it was when it went in, it’s still a hot property, says Lee Helman, managing director of investment bank Finaco, who added, “There are multiple parties circling, all with varying degrees of interest in various pieces of the company.”

The Sharper Image filed for Chapter 11 in February. The struggling company’s total sales fell 26 percent for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31. Since January 2005, Sharper Image’s annual sales have slipped more than 50 percent, from $776 million to less than $400 million.