Barnes & Noble
US$3.552 billion (FY 2019) | |
US$38.596 million (FY 2019) | |
US$3.769 million (FY 2019) | |
Total assets | US$1.705 billion (FY 2019) |
Total equity | US$444.497 million (FY 2019) |
Owner | Elliott Investment Management |
Number of employees | 24,000 (2019) |
Website |
|
Footnotes / references [4] |
Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American
Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of
After a series of mergers and bankruptcies in the American bookstore industry since the 1990s, Barnes & Noble stands alone as the United States' largest national bookstore chain.
The company is known by its customers for large retail outlets, many of which contain a café serving Starbucks coffee and other consumables. Most stores sell books, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, graphic novels, gifts, games, toys, music, and Nook e-readers and tablets. The company offers publishing and self-publishing services.
History
19th century: Foundations
Barnes & Noble began in 1886 as a bookstore called Arthur Hinds & Company,[9] located at 4 Cooper Institute in the Cooper Union Building in New York City.[10][11][12] In the fall of 1886, Gilbert Clifford Noble from Westfield, Massachusetts, who had graduated from Harvard College earlier that year,[13] was hired to work there as a clerk.[14]
In 1894, Noble was made a partner, and the name of the shop was changed to Hinds & Noble.[15]
20th century: Expansion
1900–1919
In 1901, Hinds & Noble moved to 31–35 W. 15th Street.[16] In 1917, Noble bought out Hinds and entered into a partnership with William Barnes, son of his old friend Charles Barnes; the name of the store was changed to Barnes & Noble soon after.[17][18] Charles had previously opened a book-printing business in Wheaton, Illinois, in 1873, named the C. M. Barnes-Wilcox Company; William Barnes, however, divested himself of his ownership interest in his father's business shortly before his partnership with Noble. (His father's company would go on to become the Follett Corporation.) Although the flagship store once featured the motto "Founded in 1873," the C. M. Barnes-Wilcox Company never had any connection with Barnes & Noble, save for the fact that both were partly owned (at different times) by William Barnes.[citation needed]
1920–1939
In 1930, Noble sold his share of the company to William Barnes' son, John Wilcox Barnes.[19] Noble died on June 6, 1936, at the age of 72.[20] In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, the bookstore moved its flagship location to 18th Street and Fifth Avenue,[21] which served as the company's flagship location until its closure in 2014. The Noble family retained ownership of an associated publishing business, and Barnes & Noble opened a new publishing division in 1931.[19]
1940–1959
In 1940, the store was one of the first businesses to feature
1960–1979
John Barnes died in 1964, and the company was sold to the conglomerate Amtel two years later.
In November 1974, editors of the British-produced
1980–1999
Barnes & Noble continued to expand throughout the 1980s, and it purchased the primarily
In 1989, Barnes & Noble purchased the 22-store chain Bookstop.[33]
In September 1993, Barnes & Noble became a publicly traded company by issuing $77 million worth of stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the BKS ticker symbol.[34][35] The company remained on the stock exchange until August 2019 when Elliot Management purchased all of the company's stock and took the company private.
Before Barnes & Noble created its official website, it sold books directly to customers through mail-order catalogs. It first began selling books online through an early videotex service called "Trintex",[when?] a joint venture between Sears and IBM, but the company's website was not launched until May 1997.[36] BarnesandNoble.com went public in 1999.[37]
21st century: Operating in an electronic environment
2000s
In 2004, it was reported that the reading of books was on the decline in America, with the number of non-reading adults increasing by 17 million between 1992 and 2002. Despite this, Barnes & Noble claimed that its retail store business was expanding in the book market.[38] Beginning in 1999, Barnes & Noble owned GameStop, a video game and electronics retail outlet. The company distributed its shares in GameStop in late 2004, spinning it off into its own company in an attempt to simplify its corporate structure.[39]
CEO Leonard Riggio stepped down in 2002, naming his younger brother and former acting chief executive of BarnesandNoble.com, Stephen Riggio, to succeed him. Some corporate governance experts noted that this appointment could potentially cause conflict of interest, but the company board noted that Riggio's experience at the company made him the right person for the job.[40] Stephen Riggio stepped down from the position in 2010.[41]
2010s
In 2010, website president William Lynch was named CEO. He is credited with helping launch the company's
After the bankruptcy and closure of its chief competitor,
Barnes & Noble began reducing its overall presence in the 2010s, closing its original flagship store in early 2014.[52] In mid-2014, the company announced it would separate its Nook Media division from its retail store division.[53]
In February 2018, Barnes & Noble permanently laid off 1,800 full time employees at an annual cost savings of $40 million per year.[54] According to TechCrunch, the company essentially fired their entire full time staff at all their stores, who would be making an average of $22,000 per year (~$11 per hour), and were replaced by part time workers earning close to minimum wage.[55]
In the 2018 fiscal year that ended in July, the company's overall losses reached $17 million.[56]
In early July 2018, Barnes & Noble fired CEO Demos Parneros for an unspecified violation of company policy, which was later revealed to be over sexual harassment claims.
On October 3, 2018, the board of directors announced that they would entertain offers to buy the company. Among the potential buyers was Leonard Riggio, who owned at the time approximately 19% of Barnes & Noble stock. As a result of the news, the company's stock price jumped by nearly 30%.[59]
In August 2019,
2020s
In March 2020, Barnes & Noble announced that it would temporarily stop selling magazines and, likewise temporarily, close 400 of its 620 stores due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[63] Around 12 B&N shops were closed for good since Elliott Advisors' acquisition of the company, and Daunt plans to change the acquisition process, with initial frontlist orders being made centrally and in smaller numbers than in previous years.[64] In April 2022, The New York Times reported the company used the temporary closure of stores during the pandemic to refurbish them, and credited Daunt with turning around sales both in store and online.[65] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Barnes & Noble saw up to a 500% increase in graphic novel and manga sales.[66]
Publishing
Barnes & Noble maintains a separate publishing business in addition to its retail stores and other entities.[65] Barnes & Noble's publishing company got its start by reissuing inexpensive versions of out-of-print books, and made a push to expand the unit in 2003. The company saw success the following year; in September 2004, its book, Hippie, reached The New York Times Best Seller list.[67]
Barnes & Noble often publishes and sells books at a lower cost than competitors, and sells lines of inexpensive books like Barnes & Noble Classics[67] and the leather-bound Barnes & Noble Collectible Classics collection which has it has published since 1992. In addition, the company has a second paperback series called the Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading.[68] Barnes & Noble's edition of The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense by Suzette Haden Elgin, has sold over 250,000 copies,[36] and its reissued edition of The Columbia History of the World by John Garrity, has sold over 1 million copies.[36][69]
The company has expanded business by acquiring several firms over the years, including J.B. Fairfax International in 1999,[70] SparkNotes, an educational website and publishing company, in 2001[71] and Sterling Publishing in 2003.[36]
Food service
In 1993, Barnes & Noble signed an agreement to serve Starbucks coffee in each of its existing and future cafes.
In 2016, Barnes & Noble announced plans to open four concept stores in 2017 that featured cafés twice the size of its usual food spots, as well as bars offering wine and beer. Restaurants would also include a waitstaff and a full menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The restaurants were expected to revive sales growth. Company executives planned to open additional concept stores if sales met expectations.[76] The first stores were opened in Scarsdale, New York; Edina, Minnesota; Plano, Texas; and Folsom, California.[77]
Community involvement
Barnes & Noble hires community business development managers to engage in community outreach.[78][79] The Barnes & Noble located in Fairbanks, Alaska gave over $80,000 to the community between 2015 and 2018 through book fair fundraising programs.[78] To promote nationwide literacy among 1st through 6th graders and encourage more reading and learning during the summer, Barnes & Noble has implemented a summer challenge.[80][81][82]
The Barnes & Noble Review
The Barnes & Noble Review is an
Some critics were originally skeptical of The Barnes & Noble Review. Art Winslow, former literary editor of
Barnes & Noble Nook
Barnes & Noble Nook (styled NOOK) is a suite of
The Nook competes with the
On April 30, 2012, Microsoft invested $300 million for a 17.6% stake in Nook, which valued the business at about $1.7 billion.[90]
In November 2012, the technology publications Mashable and Techdirt criticized the license agreement with which Barnes & Noble sells ebooks to consumers, pointing out that the rights to re-download a purchased ebook expire when the customer's credit card expires, and a valid credit card must be added to the account to restore this functionality.[91][92]
In June 2014, Barnes & Noble had previously announced that it would spin off its Nook Digital division into a separate publicly traded company,
In March 2016, Barnes & Noble announced it would close the Nook App Store and Nook Video and in the UK close the Nook Store on March 15.[97] It continues to sell e-books as well as digital magazines and newspapers in the US.
In 2021, the company announced the release of a new 10-inch Android-based tablet, which is named the Nook 10" HD, in a partnership with Lenovo, which is manufacturing the device.[98]
College bookstores spin-off
Barnes & Noble formerly had a subsidiary, Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, that specialized in operating campus bookstores at colleges and university. In 2015, the college operations were spun off into a new separate company,
See also
- Book Stacks Unlimited
- Bookselling
- List of book distributors
- List of bookstore chains
- List of group-0 ISBN publisher codes
References
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- ^ Weekend Edition Saturday. NPR. May 7, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
- ^ "With stores closed, Barnes & Noble does some redecorating". The Baltimore Sun. July 10, 2020.
- ^ "Barnes & Noble". wallmine. July 29, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
- ^ "Quick Facts About Barnes & Noble". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ "National Sponsorships and Donations". Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2010.
- ^ a b DePillis, Lydia (July 10, 2013). "Barnes & Noble's troubles don't show why bookstores are doomed. They show how they'll survive". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
it's now the only national bookstore chain in the country
- ^ a b Townsend, Matt (July 10, 2013). "Bookstores Not Dead Yet as Riggio Bets on Barnes & Noble". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on September 16, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
the last national bookstore chain
- ^ Hyken, Shep (April 8, 2018). "Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Independents: Who's Disrupting Whom?". Forbes. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
- gutenberg.org.
4 Cooper Institute, New York City
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- ^ The Late Age of Print: Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control by Theodore G. Striphas. Columbia University Press: 2009. 978-0-231-14814-6 p. 64
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- ^ a b c The Late Age of Print: Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control by Theodore G. Striphas. Columbia University Press: 2009. 978-0-231-14814-6 p. 65
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{{cite journal}}
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- ^ Ovide, Shira (May 2, 2012). "Microsoft to Invest in Barnes & Noble's Nook". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
- ^ Rosen, Kenneth (November 28, 2012). "Barnes & Noble: That Ebook is Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires". Mashable.
- ^ Cushing, Tim (November 27, 2012). "Barnes & Noble Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires". Techdirt.
- ^ "B&N to Split Off College Stores, Retain Nook and Retail Stores". The Digital Reader. February 26, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
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- ^ "Samsung and Barnes & Noble introduced the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 NOOK". PC Magazine. September 2015.
- ^ Barnes & Noble is shutting down the Nook App Store on March 15th Retrieved March 4, 2016.
- ^ "Barnes & Noble Introduces New NOOK 10" HD Tablet Designed with Lenovo". Lenovo StoryHub. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
Further reading
- Kirkpatrick, David D. (July 19, 1999). "Barnes & Noble's Jekyll and Hyde". New York magazine.
- Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. (April 18, 2014). "What's Barnes & Noble's Survival Plan? Former CEO Cuts Holding to 20%, but Says, 'The Story Isn't Written Yet'". The Wall Street Journal.
- Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: The Rise And Fall Of Barnes & Noble. CNBC. November 8, 2018.
- Barnes & Noble is splitting up its businesses (again) Archived March 30, 2022, at the Wayback Machine