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Barnes & Noble Is Sold to Hedge Fund After a Tumultuous Year
Barnes & Noble’s future had been the subject of speculation for months.
Similar to how Walmart employed the big box discount concept and devastated smaller retainers, Amazon.com has decimated the brick and mortar retail book chains.
Wishing Barnes and Noble all success going forward.
Barnes & Noble’s future had been the subject of speculation for months.
6/7/19
Barnes & Noble has been acquired by the hedge fund Elliott Advisors for $638 million, a move that has momentarily calmed fears among publishers and agents that the largest bookstore chain in the United States might collapse after one of the most tumultuous periods in its history. The sale was announced Friday morning after months of speculation over the future of Barnes & Noble. The acquisition follows Elliott’s purchase of the British bookstore chain Waterstones in June 2018. James Daunt, the chief executive of Waterstones, will also act as Barnes & Noble’s C.E.O. and will be based in New York. It marks a surprising new chapter in the 40-plus-year history of Barnes & Noble, which evolved from a single Manhattan bookstore in 1971 and grew into a national fleet of superstores. But in recent years, Barnes & Noble has been decimated by the strength of online booksellers like Amazon and struggled to make a profit. The company has closed more than 150 stores in the last decade or so, leaving it with 627.
“Somebody else had to save Barnes & Noble — the present ownership succeeded in a completely different environment and was not ready to jump into the 21st century,” he said. “The fact that they own Waterstones certainly puts them in the right direction. Their ability to influence the publishing industry is going to be stronger being in both markets.” Waterstones has pursued a strategy that some analysts say is the only way to compete in a marketplace dominated by online sales, by allowing individual Waterstones booksellers to tailor each store to the needs and interests of its community. Mr. Daunt, who took over in 2011, has said Waterstones operates more like a constellation of independent stores than a homogeneous chain. In recent years, there have been encouraging signs that the print retail business is rebounding, and publishers hope that a revitalized Barnes & Noble could take advantage of that shift. Independent bookstores are thriving again, and print sales are rising while e-book sales are declining. Even Amazon is investing in physical bookstores across the country.
Similar to how Walmart employed the big box discount concept and devastated smaller retainers, Amazon.com has decimated the brick and mortar retail book chains.
Wishing Barnes and Noble all success going forward.