The WSJ’s source says that both Najafi and Gores are focused on the 265 remaining Borders superstores, and both are seeking to buy Borders’ website and customer lists. The same source said that Gores would shift Borders toward an online retail model, while details of Najafi’s strategy for the company remain unclear.

The source said that Borders hopes to select one of the private equity firms to make a starting bid soon. The WSJ previously reported that the Gores Group deal would be worth about $200 million, but did not mention the size of a possible bid by Najafi.

Najafi was founded by Jahm Najafi in 2002. In 2008, it bought Direct Brands, a direct marketing music, DVD and book club company with brands including BMG, Columbia House DVD, and several book clubs including Book of the Month Club and Doubleday Book Club, and other book clubs. Najafi’s website notes that it “funds investments with internally generated capital, not through a fund,” which would allow it to buy Borders stores quickly.

Borders filed for bankruptcy in February. Last week, it was granted four more months to submit a turnaround plan. At the same hearing, Borders attorney Andrew K. Glenn of Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman said that “multiple parties” were interested in buying most or all of Borders’ remaining stores and that he hoped to conclude the sales process within two to four weeks. Glenn also intimated that someone on Borders’ creditors committee, which includes major book publishers, had leaked the news about The Gores Group to the Wall Street Journal (NSDQ: NWS), which a creditors committee attorney denied.

Borders creditors had objected to the extension, saying that the company had been losing too much money since it filed for bankruptcy on February 16, even though it’s closed over 226 stores in that time.

Last night, the WSJ reported that private equity firm The Gores Group is considering making an offer to buy about 200 of the chain’s remaining 405 stores for around $200 million. At the hearing today, Borders attorney Andrew K. Glenn, of Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, said that other buyers for the the majority of the chain’s remaining stores have also emerged, and that he expects to file a motion to sell it within two to four weeks. However, he said that the company has not abandoned a standalone reorganization plan.

Glenn intimated that the creditors committee had leaked Gores Groups’ offer, Publishers Weekly reports: “One of the buyers met with the Creditors Committee and then we see there are news stories in the Wall Street Journal…we’re getting slaughtered in the press,” he said. A creditors committee attorney, Bruce Buechler, denied a leak and said that the creditors are “not looking to hijack the process.”

Unnamed sources say that other possible bidders are also in discussions with Borders; one source said that interest in the chain has picked up since Liberty Media’s bid for Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) had previously offered to buy about 10 Borders stores.

The Gores Group, run by brothers Alec and Tom Gores, has previously invested in The Alliance Group, which distributes DVDs, CDs, and video games to retail stores like Barnes & Noble; radio programming company Westwood One; Diagnostic Health Corp.; Siemens Enterprise Communications; and women’s clothing company Big Strike. The Gores’ brother Sam is the chairman of Paradigm Talent Agency. Last year, the LA Times reported that the Gores were considering buying Universal Pictures’ Focus Features and had also looked at Miramax Films and Starz, in hopes of building an “entertainment empire.”

The news about Gores Group came ahead of a hearing today in which U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn ruled that Borders could have four more months to submit a turnaround plan. will rule whether Borders can have four more months to submit a turnaround plan. If the judge had denied the motion, Borders would have had to submit its plan by June 16. Borders has closed 226 stores since February 16 and has filed a motion to end its relationship with Seattle’s Best Coffee, but these moves have not prevented it from losing money.

Borders’ unsecured creditors, mainly major book publishers who are owed millions of dollars, had filed an objection to Borders’ request for more time, saying they were “gravely concerned” by the fact that the Ann Arbor-based bookstore chain continued to lose money–over $180 million between February 16, when it filed for bankruptcy, and April 30. Ken Dalto, a Metro Detroit retail analyst, told the Detroit News yesterday, “It’s normal to have enormous fees [during bankruptcy protection]. What’s not normal is to have continual operating losses in Chapter 11.”

As of June 1, Borders’ eBookstore and e-reading app were both rebranded Kobo and customers were instructed to transfer e-books they’d bought from Borders over to Kobo.