RICHMOND, Va. — A Mexican billionaire who owns a large stake in Circuit City Stores Inc. believes there's great market opportunity in the company, even though it is under bankruptcy protection, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who is on Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people, is "banking on a great trademark, which is Circuit City," said Luis Nino de Rivera, a spokesman for Grupo Salinas, a conglomerate that controls television, retail and cellular businesses in Latin America.

"That's a very important name in the retail industry in the United States and it has great value. ... There's a great market opportunity here that certainly has to be looked at in detail," Nino de Rivera said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Salinas now owns a 28 percent stake in Circuit City, the nation's second-largest consumer electronics retailer, after purchasing more than 47 million shares.

The transactions, which make him the company's largest shareholder, occurred both before and after Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 protection last week. Salinas has not yet filed the Securities and Exchange Commission form required of those who hold more than a 5 percent stake in a company.

Salinas and his family have been involved in the retail industry for the last 100 years, Nino de Rivera said. Among Salinas' businesses is Grupo Elektra, which operates more than 1,000 stores that sell electronics, furniture and appliances.

"Circuit City is right in line with that experience and with his family tradition," he said. "He is furthering his investments in a business he knows very well."

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Salinas plans to hold his stake in Circuit City and "everything else that we're doing is a very thorough and detailed analysis in what the next steps should be," he said.

Nino de Rivera did not rule out a possible bid for the company, but said at this time Salinas has not been in communication with Circuit City and is not formally reviewing the company's finances.

Circuit City spokesman Bill Cimino declined to comment on Tuesday.

The company, facing pressure from its vendors and from consumers who aren't spending, filed for bankruptcy protection last week and cut more jobs. The company, which has posted losses for seven of the last eight quarters, plans to keep operating while it develops a reorganization plan to deal with significant declines in traffic and heightened competition from rival Best Buy Co. and others.

Salinas also controls TV Azteca SA, Mexico's No. 2 broadcaster; Banco Azteca, one of Mexico's largest microlenders; and Grupo Iusacell SA, Mexico's third-largest mobile-phone company.

In 2006, Salinas reached a settlement on fraud charges with the SEC related to a lawsuit over an alleged scheme to conceal related-party deals between a subsidiary of his TV company and a private firm he secretly co-owned. He agreed to pay more than $7 million to settle the accusations but he did not admit or deny the allegations by U.S. securities regulators.