Circuit City Stores opened up its books to allow Blockbuster to review the company's financials this morning in an effort to move along the rental giant's proposed big to buy the CE retail.
At the same time, Circuit City announced that it had a received a letter from Blockbuster that the latter's largest investor, billionaire Carl Icahn, is prepared to make an offer for Circuit City on his own if the deal with Blockbuster falls through for a lack of financing or shareholder approval.
Both revelations sent Circuit City's shares up nearly eight percent in early trading, though neither company has commented publicly on their next moves in the deal.
Blockbuster first announced a $1 billion takeover bid for the struggling CE retailer last month. Since that time, Circuit City has seen turmoil on its board of directors, with major investor Mark J. Wattles publicly criticizing the Circuit City's management and pushing for the election of a new board of directors to guide the company through the recent bids and other turmoil.
Circuit City also announced that it has hired Goldman Sachs & Co. to look at strategic alternatives to the Blockbuster bid, including possibly a sale of the company, though no options have been pursued by the board at this time.
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