Barnes & Noble is splitting its retail and digital operations, hoping to complete the separation by 2015, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Nook Media will focus solely on B&N’s thus far unsuccessful device, itself currently struggling against the likes of Amazon. However, the company is optimistic that Nook can eventually rebound after a recent tablet development deal with Samsung.
“Investors applauded the split announcement, pushing up Barnes & Noble stock 5% in midafternoon trading,” Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg writes.
“‘It will simplify what has been a very complicated situation,’ said [analyst John] Tinker. ‘Valuing a business that is a physical retailer, a college book retailer, a hardware vendor and a digital content seller is very difficult. … Some saw the decision to separate the businesses as a reflection of Barnes & Noble’s failure to succeed on the digital hardware and content front. ‘Their digital efforts didn’t rise to the level of their competition,’ said James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. ‘Their devices were quite elegant. But convincing people that there is a bigger-picture relationship that they want is a harder sale.'”
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