The retailer has hired J.P. Morgan Securities and Merrill Lynch& Co. to assist it in the process of weighing various strategicalternatives. The company has also received a commitment fromPershing Square Capital Management to lend it $42.5 million foroperations. Additionally the New York City-based fund, which isBorders' largest shareholder, has also agreed to acquire theretailer's British Paperchase chain, which has about 100 stores, aswell as Borders' 21 namesake stores in Australia, its five in NewZealand and two in Singapore.

Borders has until April 4 to find a better offer for itsinternational operations. In fact, Jones said that one of thereasons the company is pursuing a sale is because a proposed dealto sell the Australia and New Zealand stores fell through becauseof financing issues.

Some analysts on the company's conference call seemed perplexedthat Borders is looking at a sale now, after the retailer came of arelatively stable financial fourth quarter. The company brought$84.7 million from continuing operations, compared to $87.7 millionduring the same year-ago period. Same-store sales at Borders storesrose 2.1% year over year, while Waldenbooks reported a 1.2%increase.