It's been widely acknowledged that Woolworth's was very smart to sell this at the time and price they did. Their shareholders would be thrilled to have the company back focusing on their core business again.
If you don't know Woolworths is under immense pressure from their competitors Coles and Aldi and with their other side project aka distraction Masters also struggling they really need to focus and execute.
I am so glad an Aldi opened close to my place in Australia. I hope they beat the Australian incumbents into adopting better practices (or drive them out of business).
Masters is a premium products, high margin business competing against Bunnings which is the opposite - a totally different beast to their lower margin, high volume supermarkets. One could see Masters was doomed from the beginning.
Having worked sausage sizzles at both Bunnings and Masters I can corroborate this. Masters is empty in comparison.
Closer to topic though, when buying a new TV last week my wife and I didn't even consider Dick Smith. They can't really compete with Harvey Norman, Retravision, Good Guys or JB Hi Fi.
Meanwhile, Jaycar and Altronics have slotted nicely into the hobby electronics market that used to be Dick Smith's domain.
If you don't know Woolworths is under immense pressure from their competitors Coles and Aldi and with their other side project aka distraction Masters also struggling they really need to focus and execute.