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After a brief struggle in the tablet market, Barnes & Noble is pulling out.
On Tuesday, the company announced that hits to its NOOK segment helped to drive its losses upward in its latest quarter. From February to April, Barnes & Noble's net losses were at $2.11 per share, for a total of nearly $119 million. Just a year ago, losses totaled around $57 million, or $1.06 per share. NOOK revenues were down sharply last quarter, by 34 percent from a year ago.
As part of its plan to stop its NOOK losses, Barnes & Noble now says it will have a third party manufacture its color NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ tablets, in an effort to mitigate the risks from manufacturing the tablets itself, the company said. Barnes & Noble will, however, continue to make its black-and-white eReaders and to sell NOOK-branded color tablets, as well as eReader content.
The company also expects to open five new stores and close 15 to 20 new ones in the coming year. That rate of store openings and closings is consistent with what the company has done in recent years, says CFO Michael Huseby, and does not reflect that the company is shifting its focus away from brick-and-mortar retail.
Amid the tablet difficulties, the company said it had a strong fiscal year 2013 performance in its retail and college segments. However, the outlook isn't sunny for the company's stores: Barnes & Noble expects percentage declines for comparable bookstore sales to be in the high single digits for fiscal year 2014, and for percentage declines in college comparable store sales to be in the low single digits, according to a statement released Tuesday.....snip~
Barnes & Noble Ditching Tablets, Closing Stores
It appears Barnes and Nobles is starting to head down the tubes too. Closing 15-20 stores and the outlook for 2014 is even worse. Something for those to be aware of when out looking for tablets.
On Tuesday, the company announced that hits to its NOOK segment helped to drive its losses upward in its latest quarter. From February to April, Barnes & Noble's net losses were at $2.11 per share, for a total of nearly $119 million. Just a year ago, losses totaled around $57 million, or $1.06 per share. NOOK revenues were down sharply last quarter, by 34 percent from a year ago.
As part of its plan to stop its NOOK losses, Barnes & Noble now says it will have a third party manufacture its color NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ tablets, in an effort to mitigate the risks from manufacturing the tablets itself, the company said. Barnes & Noble will, however, continue to make its black-and-white eReaders and to sell NOOK-branded color tablets, as well as eReader content.
The company also expects to open five new stores and close 15 to 20 new ones in the coming year. That rate of store openings and closings is consistent with what the company has done in recent years, says CFO Michael Huseby, and does not reflect that the company is shifting its focus away from brick-and-mortar retail.
Amid the tablet difficulties, the company said it had a strong fiscal year 2013 performance in its retail and college segments. However, the outlook isn't sunny for the company's stores: Barnes & Noble expects percentage declines for comparable bookstore sales to be in the high single digits for fiscal year 2014, and for percentage declines in college comparable store sales to be in the low single digits, according to a statement released Tuesday.....snip~
Barnes & Noble Ditching Tablets, Closing Stores
It appears Barnes and Nobles is starting to head down the tubes too. Closing 15-20 stores and the outlook for 2014 is even worse. Something for those to be aware of when out looking for tablets.