Getty ImagesA RadioShack consumers electronics store is seen in Falls Church, Virginia, December 30, 2014.Three months after filing for bankruptcy, the RadioShack brand has been purchased by hedge fund Standard General LP for $26.2 million, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Standard General initially helped Radioshack avoid being completely liquidated back in March.
At the time, the hedge fund saved 1,743 RadioShack stores and 7,500 jobs by offering Radioshack a $160 million deal - a mix of debt and cash.
Standard General purchased both RadioShack's trademark in addition to "other intellectual property" in an auction earlier this week. Citing a person who attended the bankruptcy auction, the Journal reports that Standard General also now has the right to use RadioShack's name when opening new stores. And in addition, the hedge fund now had rights to RadioShack's customer data.
The new acquisition of the RadioShack brand will allow Standard General to rebuild and rebrand stores "around a streamlined array of necessities, to be sold alongside Sprint Corp.wireless products," the Journal reports. "Sprint allied with the hedge fund in keeping more than 40% of RadioShack's fleet of brick-and-mortar outlets open."
RadioShack initially filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. The company tried to pay off over $1 billion in debt by shutting down many of its stores.
Some of Radioshack's remaining stores will close, but others will stay open. Sprint will open some RadioShack "stores within a store," as well. But the nostalgic RadioShack of yesteryear is gone.