Barnes & Noble is one of the most iconic bookstores in the world. But who is Barnes & Noble really owned by? As it turns out, Barnes & Noble is actually owned by the company Waldenbooks. Waldenbooks is a subsidiary of the37-year-old multinational publishing conglomerate, The Random House Group. So who really rules books at Barnes & Noble?
Barnes and Noble Holdings, Inc
Barnes and Noble Holdings, Inc. The company operates Barnes & Noble stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany. In addition to bookstores, Barnes & Noble operates the Nook e-reader line, a subsidiary of Barnes and Noble Holding Corporation. As of September 30, 2016, the company had $3.3 billion in revenue.
On August 6, 2012, it was announced that Barnes & Noble would be acquired by Amazon for $2.6 billion in cash and stock. This marked the end of an era for the bookstore chain as it entered into its second decade as a public company; prior to its acquisition by Amazon, it had been private since 1997. Following Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017, Barnes & Noble became a direct competitor to Walmart and Target with respect to groceries sales.
History of Barnes and Noble
Barnes and Noble is a book store chain with over 6,000 stores in the United States. Barnes. Straus had been a bookseller since 1879 and Barnes had been a clerk at a bookstore since 1912. They pooled their money to open their first store in New York City. In May 2013,KRG sold Barnes and Noble to the employees for $182 million USD.
What is Next for Barnes and Noble?
The company operates as an international book retailer and general merchandise store chain. In fiscal year 2017, the company recorded revenue of $2.7 billion. In 2016, the company sold 7% more books than the previous year. However, sales were down in other categories such as audio books, CDs, DVDs, and games.
In recent years, Barnes and Noble has been trying to pivot away from its physical stores and into digital content sales. In March of this year, Barnes & Noble announced that it would close all of its Nookix stores in 2018 following poor performance. This announcement came after the company reported disappointing earnings for Q3 of 2017 where sales were down 10%. It remains to be seen what direction Barnes & Noble will take next but it seems clear that they are facing some tough challenges.