More than 10,000 staff will lose their jobs at struggling UK household goods retailer Wilko, administrators said Monday, after last-ditch talks on a rescue deal with the owner of the HMV music store chain collapsed.
Canadian businessman Doug Putman had been in talks with administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to buy some 200 shops operated by Wilko, which went bust in August.
But both Putman and PwC said that those discussions to rescue it as a going concern had reached an end — despite having backing from Wilko management, staff and PwC — as it was revealed that as many as 10,196 extra employees face the axe.