Barnes & Noble CEO Len Riggio is pushing back against the notion that Barnes & Noble is unstable, and he has doubled down on B&N getting closer to its bookstore roots.
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
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This summer, disquiet for the future of Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest bookselling chain, deepened within publishing circles. Concerns rose when Demos Parneros was forced out as CEO over the Fourth of July holiday, then flared further when he hit back in late August with a scathing defamation lawsuit that attacked former colleagues and questioned critical business moves.
Now that fall is here, though, the bookseller’s fortunes may be looking up. The company’s stock price has rebounded by nearly 25 percent from its early September low, while the chain’s stores have found a hot ticket in Fear, journalist Bob Woodward’s account of the Trump White House. Coming in Monday’s issue, Publishers Weekly has an exclusive interview with B&N founder and chairman Len Riggio, and PW’s Andrew Albanese offers a preview.
“Riggio pushes back against the notion that Barnes & Noble is unstable. He does not dispute that the company’s poor performance last year during the important holiday season was unnerving, as he put it, and it sounds like he’s not planning on giving up control any time soon,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
“Riggio told Jim Milliot [PW’s editorial director] that the company is in fact stable, with a number of executives who have been with the company for a long period, including a large number of store managers. Riggio stressed that he’s confident B&N will improve its comp store sales this holiday season. And Riggio doubled down on B&N getting closer to its bookstore roots.”
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
