It has been reported that staff at The Link could lose their jobs, unless they are in the small minority of shops that will be acquired by O2.Under the terms of the £30 million contract, O2 is only obliged to take on staff in stores that it intends to rebrand.It has been rumoured that only 50 to 100 stores will be acquired by O2, leaving the rest to be fought over by other retailers and operators outside the industry.“Technically, the purchase agreed in principle is for the stores – that wouldn’t include the staff. But for the stores taken on and rebranded as O2, O2 will take the staff,” commented a reliable source.Rivals 3, Virgin and T-Mobile are rumoured to be watching the remaining stores with a keen eye to acquire.Unfortunately, with the announcement of the sale, their has been a massive decrease in sales. “No-one did their target last week,” said the source, "And we've got the most competitive deals on the high street."
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