New York, NY /July 08, 2013 — Barnes and Noble CEO William Lynch has resigned effective immeditely, the company's Board of Directors announced today. The change came after losses on BN's Nook digital business more than doubled for the quarter ended April 27. Lynch had been CEO since March 2010.
Michael P. Huseby has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of NOOK Media LLC and President of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Max J. Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble College will continue to lead the digital education strategy and report to Mr. Huseby, as will the Executive Management team of NOOK Media. Mr. Huseby and Mitchell Klipper, Chief Executive Officer of the Barnes & Noble Retail Group, will report directly to Leonard Riggio, Executive Chairman of Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Although Barnes & Noble has been successful in seling e-books, it has struggled in the hardware business against larger competitors such as Apple, inc. Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc., as well as SamsungElectronics Co. BN recently said it would stop making its own color tables and insead seek manufacturing partners. In 2012, Microsoft invested $605 milion in Nook Media and Pearson PLC. invested $89.5 million. There is some speculation that Microsoft will step up and buy the Nook business.
The Company also announced that Allen Lindstrom, Vice President and the Company’s Corporate Controller, has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. He will report to Mr. Huseby. Kanuj Malhotra, Vice President of Corporate Development, has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer of NOOK Media LLC.
“We thank William Lynch for helping transform Barnes & Noble into a leading digital content provider and for leading in the development of our award-winning line of NOOK® products including NOOK Simple Touch™, NOOK Simple Touch Glowlight™, and NOOK® HD and NOOK® HD+ ,” said Leonard Riggio, Chairman. “As the bookselling industry continues to undergo significant transformation, we believe that Michael, Mitchell and Max are the right executives to lead us into the future.” Mr. Riggio added that the Company is in the process of reviewing its current strategic plan and will provide an update when appropriate.
“I appreciate the opportunity to serve as CEO of this terrific Company over the last three years,” said William Lynch. “There is a great executive team and Board in place at Barnes & Noble, and I look forward to the many innovations the Company will be bringing to its millions of physical and digital media customers in the future.”
Mr. Huseby joined Barnes & Noble as Chief Financial Officer in March 2012, and has led the Company’s financial organization since that time. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble, he had a distinguished career in the media communications industry having most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cablevision Systems Corporation, a leading telecommunications and media company. Mr. Huseby also served in leadership positions at Charter Communications, Inc., the fourth largest cable operator in the U.S, as well as AT&T Broadband, a provider of cable television services.
Mr. Lindstrom joined Barnes & Noble in November 2007 as Vice President, Corporate Controller. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble, Mr. Lindstrom was Chief Financial Officer at Liberty Travel, Inc.
Mr. Malhotra joined NOOK Media in May 2012 and in his role as Vice President of Corporate Development has been responsible for developing strategic priorities for growth and profitability. He was previously Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Affinion International.
The quesiton remaisn as to what Barnes & Noble will do with the Nook business, wich has a large e-book library. If Microsoft were to buy the Nook business it would most likley put its own people in charge.
