Barnes & Noble's Ignoble Nook Losses

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Although the Nook e-reader made a big splash when it debuted in 2009, Barnes & Noble, the nation's biggest bookstore chain, suffered a 25.9 percent drop in Nook revenues, including readers and e-book sales, for the fiscal third quarter ending January 26, Reuters reported.

Nook losses increased twofold, exceeding $190 million, as the company slashed prices on e-readers and tablets in the face of dismal sales during the holiday season, according to Reuters. B & N broke off its college bookstore business and Nook division last year under the Nook Media umbrella. The move attracted muscular investors such as Microsoft Corp. and Pearson LLC, though B & N retained a 78 percent ownership interest in Nook Media.

Although the book club enthusiast staff of  "TUOL" continues to suffer paper cuts turning the pages of old-fangled books, the cutting-edge blog has studiously followed the progress and current decline of Nook (see "TUOL" posts 4/25/11, 2/9/10).

Barnes & Noble, Not Brick & Mortar

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Following a brief surge after competitor Borders Group, Inc. went belly-up (see "TUOL" post 7/20/11), Barnes & Noble saw a near-11 percent drop in sales at its bookstores and on its Web site this past holiday season, according to a Reuters wire service article.

B & N CEO Mitchell Klipper told the Wall St. Journal that his company plans to shutter nearly a third of its brick and mortar bookstores over the next decade, according to the Reuters piece. The company, which presently operates 689 retail stores and  674 college bookstores as a separate chain, will likely reduce in size to roughly 500 stores within the next ten years, Klipper noted.

Online competition such as Amazon and the boom in e-books are contributing factors in the shrinking bookstore market.

Will Barnes & Noble Say: 'Give Me Liberty (Media) & $1 Billion?

Image via WikipediaBillionaire John Malone's Liberty Media, whose holdings include the Atlanta Braves baseball team and interests in Sirius XM Radio, Inc. and the Starz Group media company, has offered $1 billion to acquire the Barnes & Noble bookstore chain, according to Bloomberg News and The Wall St. Journal.

A board committee of  B&N, which controls 28 percent of the e-book market with its Nook e-reader (see "TUOL" posts 4/25/11, 2/9/10), will review the proposal, which would require shareholder and regulatory acceptance. Credit Suisse gave its thumbs-up to the offering, saying that B&N would strongly compete with digital competitors Amazon (which makes the Kindle e-reader) and Apple with the financial backing of Liberty Media.

Liberty Media's $17 a share offer to B&N represents a 20 percent premium to shareholders based on the bookstore chain's closing stock price yesterday. The Englewood, Colo.-based Liberty would control 70 percent of B&N and current B&N chair Leonard Riggio would have a 30 percent equity stake in the enterprise under Liberty's proposed acquistion, according to Bloomberg News.

Barnes & Noble Adds a 'Hook' to the Nook

Image by orb9220 via FlickrThe E-reader wars continue unabated, with Barnes & Noble set to expand its Nook e-reader to accommodate email and an applications store, according to an Associated Press story.

Amazon, Inc.'s Kindle has made more of a splash in the market, but Nook does offer a color touchscreen, compared to the Kindle's non-touch-sensitive black and white screen.  (See "TUOL" post 2/10/10.) Among the 125 applications introduced for the Nook today are the game, "Angry Birds," and  "Epicurious" recipes.

Flash content will further jazz up Nook's Web browser. Nook runs Google, Inc.'s Android software, but not standard Android apps.

Locker Room Humor Marketing: First iPad, Now Nook E-Reader

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After a two-month production delay,  New York-based bookseller Barnes & Noble, Inc. expects its Nook electronic book reader to be available for purchase in most of its bookstores this week, Reuters reports.

Until now, the rival to Amazon.com, Inc.'s Kindle reader could only be had through the book chain's Web site or via in-store kiosks. Introduced in October 2009, the Nook e-reader sold out before the December holidays and the company struggled to restock the product.

The erudite, sophisticated, law-trained "TUOL" staff is renowned for its demureness, but Madison Ave. ad agencies must be overstaffed with frat boys to have come up with "Nook E-reader." Does it come with a V-chip? Can you only read boxed sets?  Is the text viewing piecemeal?

Sorry, but at least "TUOL" showed admirable restraint when Apple debuted the iPad.