The traditional book industry is in trouble, due to consumers’ technological changing habits. In 2009, book giant Barnes & Noble came up with Nook, an e-book device to compete with Amazon Kindle and others. It doesn’t seem to be working.
That’s why Barnes & Noble wants to split up with it’s child company Nook. The separation is expected to be complete in early 2015. They say Nook has about ran it’s course. In the last quarter, Barnes & Noble book, magazine and coffee sales increased nearly two percent. In the same quarter, Nook sales fell nearly two percent. Back in August 2013, they called for a Nook separation. In fact, rumbling started even before that. Nook was only created in 2009. Willie Lynch, Barnes and Noble CEO, who was a strong Nook advocate, resigned in January 2014.
I think this is a bad move on the part of Barnes and Nobles. The e-book craze is going nowhere but up. So why kick Nook out the door now? Just because you had a bad quarter? I can see if sales were down 20% or even 10%. But a 1.8% drop in one quarter tells me there is hope for Nook. Word on the web is they’ve invested in educational tools and toys. Why can’t they invest in Nook? Let’s say they separate Nook from Barnes. Let’s say Nook takes off and does extremely well. Barnes and Noble will be kicking themselves and rightfully so. What if other computer tech giants threw their creations away before they took off?