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Friday, February 09, 2001 OnCampus/News    BOOKSTORE WOES     Wilkinson to file bankruptcy   NICK TOMECEK | PHOTO EDITOR The UK Bookstore, located in the Student Center, is owned by former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson. Wilkinson is expected to file bankruptcy today. He is owes over $300 million to creditors.   Campus affected: UK Bookstore part of Wilkinson's chain   STAFF AND WIRE REPORT   The owner of the UK Bookstore is in financial turmoil.   Creditors of former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson filed a petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Monday to appoint a trustee to manage his assets and businesses, saying one is needed to prevent more borrowing, diversion of funds or losses in the value of Wilkinson's assets.   The petition said Wilkinson has borrowed vast sums of money on the pretense of buying textbooks that would be resold for large profits.   "To the contrary, for at least the last year-and-one-half, it would appear that Mr. Wilkinson has taken tens of millions of dollars out of the businesses, while increasing personal borrowings," the petition said.   Wilkinson now owns 63 college bookstores, under the company name Wilkinson's Bookstores. He was governor of Kentucky from 1987 to 1991.   Six creditors on the petition were investors in Wilkinson's dot-com venture, ecampus.com, including United Company. It was the creditor with the largest loan to Wilkinson, in the sum of $106 million.   Wilkinson's Internet textbook company was expected to sell its stock to the public to create a return for the investors. No stock sale occurred, apparently because of changing conditions in financial markets. ecampus was not named in the bankruptcy motion.   "The money was to be used to buy used books that could be sold 'at significant profit' to pay the interest on the notes and 'provide a significant return to Mr. Wilkinson,'" the creditors said.   Wilkinson's textbook company has been under controversy before.   Bankrupt.com An online college textbook company, Lexington-based ecampus.com, is on the same roller coaster with other big name online companies, facing the highs and lows of operations. The e-company, a part of Wallace Wilkinson's college textbook company, Wallace's College Books Co., began filling orders for college students across the nation in 1999. Wilkinson is facing proceedings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court this week. His attorney, Robert Brown, in an interview in the Lexington Herald-Leader said that Wilkinson's "difficulties with the ecampus.com business" led to the bankruptcy he promised to file Thursday. One of the investors and ecampus director is fast-food chain Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas. Other online textbook companies have hit the dot-com graveyard, including BigWords.com and Varsity Group. Varsity Group is on the verge of being removed from the Nasdaq stock exchange because its stock price has been under $1 for too long. The company was hoping to take the venture public but Robert C. Miller, a director of ecampus said the timing isn't right. "The marketplace is not terribly accommodating for business ventures of this kind at the moment."   The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Thursday that the textbook company has been accused several times, most recently in 1995, of buying stolen textbooks to resell.   Wilkinson's college bookstores and wholesale book company has a yearly revenue of $200 million and between $10 and $12 million in profits.   Wilkinson's attorney, Robert Brown, said Wilkinson has some financial problems and feels like someone is out to break apart the his company. He said a forced liquidation is not necessary.   "Someone has a motive to drive the value of this company down," Brown said during a hearing before Federal Bankruptcy Judge William S. Howard, Wednesday.   Howard gave Wilkinson until the close of business Thursday to file his petition for bankruptcy or he said he would grant the request for Wilkinson's holdings to be carved up and sold.   Current Headlines OnCampus/News

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