New RadioShack chief brings experience in wireless world

Almost a decade ago, RadioShack’s new top executive, Ron Garriques, helped rejuvenate Motorola’s cellphone division with the Razr phone.

But Garriques’ three-year stint at Dell Corp., as president of the computer company’s global consumer division, was less successful. Dell could never compete in the mobile-device market with its Aero phone or Streak tablet and shuttered the unit in 2010.

Now Garriques is charged with keeping the RadioShack brand alive inside co-branded Sprint stores as part of the Fort Worth-based retailer’s restructuring in its deal with Standard General. This week, a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of 1,743 RadioShack stores and inventory to General Wireless, a unit of the New York hedge fund, and Sprint Corp.

“I would like to say how excited I am to be part of this exciting enterprise and to help the company down this new path,” Garriques said on a conference call with employees Thursday. “I’m confident that here at RadioShack, we have the right pieces in place, and I will work very, very hard to help us succeed.”

According to a biography released Friday, Garriques received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Boston University and Stanford University, respectively. He also has a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jaime Jones, president of the postpaid and general business organization at Sprint, said its deal with RadioShack allows the cellphone service provider to reach twice as many communities.

“Over the past several months, we worked closely with Ron Garriques and Standard General on strategy and operations to make the new company a success,” Jones said in a statement. “With the transaction now closed, we’re looking forward to our continued partnership and to the next phase, which is rolling out our ‘store-within-a-store’ concept and co-branded marketing opportunities.”

It is unclear how prominently RadioShack will be featured in the new stores, although Sprint will use only about a third of the floor space.

Telecom industry analyst Jeff Kagan said the additional stores will help Sprint compete against Verizon and AT&T as customers compare mobile devices in retail settings before buying.

“It’s always better when you have more retail locations, especially since the wireless business is turning more towards where everything is not just about the device,” Kagan said. “The smartphones are now moving into the fashion area, with watches and other products. It is an area where customers want to go in and feel and look.”

On Thursday, the company filed a monthly operating report showing that the retail chain lost $41.4 million from Feb. 6 to Feb. 28 on revenue of $128.6 million.

RadioShack also disclosed that it received $160.7 million for the sale of the 1,700-plus stores to Sprint. Of that, $47.6 million was cash and $113 million was in the form of a credit bid for certain secured claims, the Securities and Exchange Commission filing said.

RadioShack, which had about 4,000 stores when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early February, is closing stores not sold to Standard General.

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 5:01 PM with the headline "New RadioShack chief brings experience in wireless world."